Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2021
26th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Characterization of the thermo-hydraulic performance of a La(Fe,Mn,Si)13Hy regenerator
Submission Author:
Hígor Feltrin Teza , SC
Co-Authors:
Hígor Feltrin Teza, Bernardo Vieira, Natália Maleski de Sá, Alan Nakashima, Guilherme Fidelis Peixer, Gislaine Hoffmann, Jaime Lozano, Jader Riso Barbosa Jr.
Presenter: Hígor Feltrin Teza
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2021.COB2021-1683
Abstract
Magnetic refrigeration is one of the most promising caloric cooling technologies regarding theoretical energy efficiency and reduction of the impact on the environment. Therefore, improving the components of a magnetocaloric refrigeration device in order to make it commercially viable is essential. One of the main components is the active magnetic regenerator (AMR), which is filled with a magnetocaloric material responsible for the refrigerant effect. A proper regenerator design must consider its heat exchange capacity and the restriction it imposes on the mass flow rate provided by the pump, what can be evaluated by performing a thermo-hydraulic characterization in order to obtain its effectiveness and friction factor. Therefore, this work performed a characterization of a packed spheres bed regenerator, composed of particles with an average diameter of 0.75 mm, a porosity of approximately 38%, and 10 layers of a La(Fe,Si,Mn)13Hy alloy, which is a magnetocaloric material. Besides the thermo-hydraulic characterization, it is fundamental to assess the material’s stability due to the brittleness commonly presented by these alloys. Therefore, the pressure drop tests are performed regularly to monitor any increase, which would mean the regenerator is breaking apart. All the experimental conditions presented high effectiveness, i.e., above 95% and the regenerator doesn’t shows significant pressure drop increases, indicating that it is mechanically stable. The pressure drop tests results were compared to the Ergun’s equation and shape factors were used to calibrate the numerical model to the regenerator porous medium.
Keywords
magnetic refrigeration, La-Fe-Si alloy, active magnetic regenerator, effectiveness, pressure drop
