Design method of the layered active magnetic regenerator (AMR) for hydrogen liquefaction by numerical simulation

•The two-stage AMR system is designed using the 1-D numerical simulation.•The optimization procedure of an AMR operating between 20 K and 80 K is discussed.•Entropy generation is calculated based on the numerical simulation results.

The design procedure of an active magnetic regenerator (AMR) operating between liquid nitrogen temperature and liquid hydrogen temperature is discussed with the selected magnetic refrigerants. Selected magnetic refrigerants (GdNi2, Dy0.85Er0.15Al2, Dy0.5Er0.5Al2, and Gd0.1Dy0.9Ni2) that have different transition temperatures are layered in an AMR to widen the temperature span. The optimum volume fraction of the layered refrigerants for the maximum COP with minimum volume is designed in a two-stage active magnetic regenerative refrigerator (AMRR) using one dimensional numerical simulation. The entropy generation in each stage of the AMR is calculated by the numerical simulation to optimize the proposed design. The main sources of the entropy generation in the AMR are pressure drop, convection and conduction heat transfers in the AMR. However, the entropy generation by the convective heat transfer is mostly dominant in the optimized cases. In this paper, the design parameters and the operating conditions such as the distribution of the selected refrigerants in the layered AMR, the intermediate temperature between two stages and the mass flow rate of heat transfer fluid are specifically determined to maximize the performance of the AMR. The proposed design method will facilitate the construction of AMR systems with various magnetic refrigerants and conditions such as AMR size, operating temperature range, and magnetic field variation.