Magnetocaloric Refrigeration, Potentials, State of the Art and Challenges

ORNL is collaborating with GEA on developing the world's first magnetocaloric refrigerator. The technology could yield energy savings of 25% over baseline vapor compression systems. A drastic upgrade in refrigerator design using magnetocaloric materials (MCM) eliminates the need for refrigerants but creates new challenges ― one is how to transfer heat to or from the solid MCM material using a heat transfer fluid. In this presentation, the basics of magnetocaloric refrigeration and the performance potential will be discussed, followed by describing state of art systems. The technical challenges and potential solutions for this emerging technology will also be reviewed.