Application of magnetic refrigeration and its assessment

Magnetic refrigeration has the potential to replace conventional refrigeration—with often problematic refrigerants—in several niche markets or even some main markets of the refrigeration domain. Based on this insight, for the Swiss Federal Office of Energy a list of almost all existing refrigeration technologies was worked out. Then an evaluation how good magnetic refrigeration applies to each of these technologies was performed. For this purpose a calculation tool to determine the coefficient of performance (COP) and the exergy efficiency as a function of the magnetic field strength and the rotation frequency of a rotary-type magnetic refrigerator was developed. The evaluation clearly shows that some application domains are more ideal for a replacement of conventional refrigerators by their magnetic counterparts than others. In the pre-study, four good examples were chosen for a more comprehensive investigation and working out of more detailed results. In this article, the calculation method is briefly described. COP values and exergy efficiencies of one very suitable technology, namely the magnetic household refrigerator, are presented for different operation conditions. Summarizing, it is stated that magnetic refrigeration is a serious environmentally benign alternative to some conventional cooling, refrigeration and air-conditioning technologies.