Domestic wine cooler operated by a magnetic refrigeration system developed by Polo - UFSC скачать в хорошем качестве

Domestic wine cooler operated by a magnetic refrigeration system developed by Polo - UFSC

Researchers at POLO (Research Laboratories for Emerging Technologies in Cooling and Thermophysics) at the Federal University of Santa Catarina are developing an energy efficient magnetocaloric wine cooler which does not rely on flammable refrigerants or environmentally harmful substances. The working principle is based on the magnetocaloric effect, which is the thermal response of some materials to the variation of a magnetic field. Thus, when the magnetic field is raised, the material temperature increases and, reversibly, the removal of the magnetic field reduces the temperature of the material. The Active Magnetic Regenerators (or AMRs) are responsible for generating the refrigerating effect and, together with the magnet, play a role similar to that of the compressor in a conventional refrigerator. The magnetic refrigeration cycle uses water to remove heat from the wine cooler cabinet, lowering its temperature. The AMR itself consists of a porous solid metal that undergoes a temperature variation under the action of the magnetic field, alternatingly cooling down and heating up the flowing water. In the present development stage, the system is equipped with flow, pressure, temperature, magnetic field and electrical power sensors to enable mapping the performance of the refrigeration unit. The ultimate goal of the project is to achieve temperature and cooling capacity specifications of a 31 bottle wine cooler, with an energy consumption compatible with that of a conventional appliance.