Ames Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Ames, Iowa
Ames Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Ames, Iowa
MADISON, Wis. -- Astronautics Corporation of America and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Ames Laboratory will heat up magnetic refrigeration technology when they disclose test results from their latest magnetic refrigerator on Thursday afternoon, February 20, at the Astronautics Technology Center.
Working under a contract with Ames Laboratory, Astronautics has constructed and tested a fully instrumented magnetic refrigerator operating in the near-room temperature region typical of air conditioners and refrigerators for food storage. This new refrigerator has been operating for two months and has demonstrated record cooling power for a magnetic refrigerator.
Magnetic refrigerators exploit the magnetocaloric effect, the remarkable ability of some metals to become hot when magnetized and cool when demagnetized. Some of the major losses present in conventional gas-compression refrigerators are absent in magnetic refrigerators, and thus it is expected that cooling systems based on this new technology can attain substantially higher efficiency than conventional gas-compression coolers. The coefficient of performance of the Astronautics device has also set a record for magnetic refrigerators, suggesting that recent design innnovations can make magnetic refrigeration competitive with conventional gas compression technology.
In addition to higher efficiency and cost savings, another primary advantage that magnetic refrigeration systems have over conventional vapor cycle machines is the elimination, in many cases, of the hazardous materials used for heat transfer, such as CFCs and ammonia. The Astronautics AMR uses water as a heat transfer medium for the refrigeration temperature range and a water-antifreeze mix to reach below freezing.
Potential areas of commercial applications of magnetic cooling could include: large scale refrigeration, food processing and heating and air conditioning; liquor distilling; grain drying; and waste separation and treatment systems.
Further development of magnetic refrigeration could lead to the production of cheap liquid hydrogen, an environmentally safe and endless alternative fuel source. Magnetic refrigeration can efficiently span the large temperature difference needed to produce liquid hydrogen. Because of this large temperature difference, even a small improvement in efficiency would result in huge energy savings.
Another important advantage of magnetic refrigeration over conventional gas-compression systems is that only the magnetic material in the regenerator bed will ever need to be replaced when changing refrigerant to achieve a different temperature range. Also, when a better magnetic material is developed, the refrigerator will not need to be redesigned.
This joint project was funded by the Advanced Energy Projects Division of the Office of Computational and Technology Research in the U.S. DOE.
The Astronautics Technology Center (ATC) is located at 5800 Cottage Grove Road in Madison. From Interstate 90, take Route 30 west to Route 51 south. Turn east at the Cottage Grove Road exit. ATC is just east of the bridge over Interstate 90.
Founded in 1959, Astronautics Corporation of America is a world leader in design and manufacture of high quality electronic systems including navigation and computer systems, flight instruments and displays. Its products are used throughout the world in a wide range of military and commercial applications for ground, sea and aerospace.
Ames Laboratory is operated for the DOE by Iowa State University. The Lab conducts research into various areas of national concern, including energy resources, high-speed computer design, environmental cleanup and restoration, and the synthesis and study of new materials.
Last revision: 4/17/98 mab
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