Publication Date
12-8-2018
Department
Ames Laboratory; Materials Science and Engineering
Campus Units
Materials Science and Engineering, Ames Laboratory
OSTI ID+
1545361
Report Number
IS-J 9904
DOI
10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.12.012
Journal Title
Applied Energy
Volume Number
236
First Page
426
Last Page
436
Abstract
Regenerative magnetic cycles are of interest for small-scale, high-efficiency cryogen liquefiers; however, commercially relevant performance has yet to be demonstrated. To develop improved engineering prototypes, an efficient modeling tool is required to screen the multi-parameter design space. In this work, we describe an active magnetic regenerative refrigerator prototype using a high-field superconducting magnet that produces a 100 K temperature span. Using the experimental data, a semi-analytic AMR element model is validated and enhanced system performance is simulated using liquid propane as a heat transfer fluid. In addition, the regenerator composition and fluid flow are simultaneously optimized using a differential evolution algorithm. Simulation results indicate that a natural gas liquefier with a 160 K temperature span and a second-law efficiency exceeding 20% is achievable.
DOE Contract Number(s)
AC02-07CH11358
Language
en
Publisher
Iowa State University Digital Repository, Ames IA (United States)
