Simulations of refrigeration on integrated circuits using micro-channels

We developed a two-dimensional transient numerical model that solves the first step of heat transfer of an active magnetic regenerative refrigerator (AMR). The magnetic materials considered are Gd5Si2Ge2 (GSG), La(Fe0.88Si0.12)(13) (LFS) and La0.66Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO), pointed as promising materials to be used in magneto-refrigeration near room temperature, due to their quite large magnetocaloric effect. Our numerical results quantify the time frame of heat transfer, an important factor that needs to be taken into account for technological applications. We found that LSMO shows the largest temperature variation when compared with GSG and LFS. However, in practice the cooling/heating times are also important factors, and we found that using LSMO as the magnetic material, a longer time is needed to complete the heat transfer process. Thus, the use of GSG or LFS leads to an increase of the cooling power of the system. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.