EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENTS OF A MAGNETIC REFRIGERATION SYSTEM INTEGRATED IN A BEVERAGE COOLER

Autor/autori: Sergiu LIONTE, Michel RISSER, Jean-Baptiste CHAUDRON, Christian MULLER

Abstract: Magnetic refrigeration technology is a fast-developing cooling technique which is assumed to be capable to replace the traditional vapor-compression technology in terms of efficiency and environmental requirements in the near future. Cooltech has developed a new series of Magnetic Refrigeration Systems (MRS) capable of successfully working into a commercial beverage cooler. For this application, a specific prototype has been implemented in a beverage cooler cabinet. The 500 liters cabinet uses a magnetocaloric system made of NdFeB permanent magnets generating a field of 0.8 T in the air gap and 3 kg of Gd alloys as a magnetocaloric material. In this paper we present and analyze a set of experimental measurements performed on the entire system. The air inside the cabinet has been regulated at +2°C, with a duty rate of the motor inferior at 50%. Actual measurements demonstrate that magnetic refrigeration is now a technology able to technically respond to the refrigeration market requirements. In the end, an overview of a high power magnetic refrigeration system will also be presented.

Keywords: Energy efficiency, Integration, Magnetic refrigeration

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