Finite Element Analysis (FEA) on Rotary Regenerator Bed of Active Magnetic Refrigerator (AMR): Temperature Distribution

The Magneto Caloric Effect is an intrinsic property of a magnetic solid. It is the response of this solid to the application or removal of magnetic fields [1]. When magnetic material is subjected to a magnetic field the magnetic moments are aligned and the magnetic entropy is lower. And the sample heats up when the field is removed the magnetic entropy is increased and the temperature is lowered. The magnitude of the magnetic entropy and the adiabatic temperature changes are strongly dependent upon the magnetic order process [2]. The objective of this work is to investigate the effect of temperature on the regenerator bed. The entropy depends not only on temperature but also on some other quantity, in this case magnetic field. Therefore, these materials can be forced to undergo various types of thermodynamic cycles that cause entropy to move from a low temperature to a high temperature due to a work input. A Finite Element model is built and meshed in ANSYS 10.0. Thermal analysis is done on the magnetic material using commercial FEA software ANSYS 10.0. Temperature distributions can be estimated using ANSYS thermal analysis.