A magnetic wine cooler prototype
Abstract This work presents the design and performance evaluation of a novel magnetic refrigeration unit capable of controlling the temperature of a 31-bottle wine cooler cabinet. The main components of the system are: an active magnetic regenerator composed of eight porous beds of Gd/Gd-Y spheres, a two-pole magnetic circuit responsible for the magnetic field changes, a set of solenoid valves for flow control, and fan-supplied finned tube heat exchangers on the cold and hot sides of the wine cooler apparatus. Synchronization of the magnetic field variation and fluid flow processes was performed using real-time magnetic field measurements. The system was capable of reaching a mean temperature of 10.8 o C inside the retrofitted wine cooler cabinet by generating 27.9 W of cooling capacity for an ambient temperature of 25 o C. The coefficient of performance and second-law efficiency for this operating point were estimated as 0.21 and 1.0 %, respectively. When operating at a cabinet temperature of 12.5 o C, the coefficient of performance and second-law efficiency achieved by the magnetic system were 0.38 and 1.6 %.