Improving Designs of Halbach Cylinder-Based Magnetic Assembly with High- and Low-Field Regions for a Rotating Magnetic Refrigerator

Abstract

The present paper investigates the generation of the alternating almost zero and strong homogeneous magnetic fields for rotary magnetic refrigeration. In order to achieve an alternating magnetic field with eight regions, a soft magnetic rod is inserted in the bore. Four high-flux-density regions (FDRs) for magnetization and four low-flux-density regions for demagnetization of magnetocaloric materials are obtained by the proposed design. The design procedure for the four-pole structure and its implementation using 3D finite-element simulation are presented. To meet the predefined requirements, some magnet segments are replaced with high-permeability soft magnetic material. The proposed magnetic design for the rotary refrigerator allows good field distribution in the air gap, a high ratio of high-field-to-permanent-magnet volume, a minimized low-field volume, reduced magnet usage to the permanent-magnet volume, reduction of the amount of magnet material used, and increased flux density between the low- and high-field regions.