The Concept of a Novel Cold Storage Device Utilizing the Magnetocaloric Effect

Abstract

Cold storage poses many more problems than heat storage. This is due to the fact that the temperature range is smaller than in the case of heat storage facilities. The simplest example is that cold water chillers operate in the temperature range of 12/7 ⁰C and the heating system operates in the temperature range of 90/70 ⁰C. This means that at the start the volume in sensible heat is almost three times greater. For this reason, cold is rarely stored in the form of sensible heat. Phase change solutions (PCM) or physical reactions (adsorption) or chemical reactions (absorption) are much more frequently used. A completely different idea for improving the operation of cold stores is the use of magnetocaloric materials. These are materials that change temperature under the influence of a magnetic field. The article presents the concept of a cold store that cooperates with a heat exchanger made of magnetocaloric materials (pure Gadolinium). As a result of the preliminary analysis, it was determined that this combination of vapour compressor system and magnetocaloric heat exchanger allows for a reduction in energy consumption for storage purposes at the level of 58,6% in comparison to regular vapour compressor system.