Eventos Anais de eventos
COBEM 2023
27th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering
Performance prediction of a novel compact magnetocaloric wine cooler
Submission Author:
Natália Maleski de Sá , SC
Co-Authors:
Natália Maleski de Sá, Glenda de Melo Luz, Alan Nakashima, Elias Pagnan, Anderson Lorenzoni, Guilherme Fidelis Peixer, Jaime Lozano, Jader Riso Barbosa Jr.
Presenter: Alan Nakashima
doi://10.26678/ABCM.COBEM2023.COB2023-1359
Abstract
Over the last few decades, there has been a great effort in the research of alternative cooling technologies to address the environmental problems associated with the dominant cooling technology, the mechanical Vapor Compression (VC), such as direct emissions of environmentally harmful refrigerant fluids, indirect emissions from power generation and the thermodynamic efficiency level of current cooling systems. Among these technologies, Magnetic Refrigeration (MR) stands out as a promising alternative for environmentally cleaner cooling due to its operating principle. Fundamentally, MR does not rely on volatile substances, as it replaces the fluid refrigerant by solid-state magnetocaloric materials subjected to thermomagnetic cycles. The devices responsible for the compression and expansion in VC are replaced by sources of magnetic field based on permanent magnets, eliminating the need for a continuous source of energy to generate the field. The relative movement between the permanent magnets and the solid refrigerant induces the Magnetocaloric Effect (MCE), a thermodynamically reversible process that results in heat exchange or temperature variation processes in the refrigerant. Thus, MR eliminates direct emissions and the risk of accidents involving fluid refrigerants and has the potential to be more efficient, reducing energy consumption and indirect emissions. Nevertheless, the distance between conception and achievement of these advantages is still substantial. In this scenario, the PoloMag group (POLO Labs - UFSC) emerged as a research team focused on establishing MR as a viable cooling technology. Relying on more than a decade of the group experience, this work presents the design and performance prediction of a novel compact plug-and-play magnetic wine cooler capable of controlling the temperature of a 31-bottle cabinet between 10 and 18°C in an ambient temperature of 25°C and with a thermodynamic performance comparable to that of a VC system operating the same cabinet. To that end, a system-level magnetic refrigeration model combined with a genetic algorithm-based multi-objective optimization routine was employed to select the system components aiming at maximizing the Coefficient of Performance (COP) and minimizing the mass of the permanent magnet. Numerical results indicate that the novel MR wine cooler will be 71% more efficient than a commercially available VC system tested by the PoloMag group and will be 145% more efficient than its previous prototype version employing 48.5% less permanent magnet mass.
Keywords
Magnetocaloric refrigeration, Thermal system design, Numerical analysis, Performance assessment
