Optimization of a Thermomagnetic Heat Engine for Harvesting Low Grade Thermal Energy

Zeeshan, Muhammad Uzair Mehmood and Sungbo Cho
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Zeeshan: Department of Electronics Engineering, Gachon University, 1342 Seongnamdaero, Seongnam-si 13120, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
Muhammad Uzair Mehmood: Department of Nuclear and Energy Engineering, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Korea
Sungbo Cho: Department of Electronics Engineering, Gachon University, 1342 Seongnamdaero, Seongnam-si 13120, Gyeonggi-do, Korea

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 18, 1-17

Abstract: Thermomagnetic energy harvesters are one form of technology that can be effectively used to extract energy from low grade heat sources, without causing damage to the environment. In this study, we investigated the output performance of our previously designed thermomagnetic heat engine, which was developed to extract thermal energy by exploiting the magnetocaloric effect of gadolinium. The proposed heat engine uses water as the heat transfer fluid, with heat sources at a temperature in the range 20–65 °C. Although this method turned out to be a promising solution to extract thermal energy, the amount of energy extracted through this geometry of thermomagnetic engine was limited and depends on the interaction between magnetic flux and magnetocaloric material. Therefore, in this paper we carry out an in-depth analysis of the designed thermomagnetic heat engine with an integrated approach of numerical simulation and experimental validation. The computational model improved recognition of the critical component to developing an optimized model of the thermomagnetic heat engine. Based on the simulation result, a new working model was developed that showed a significant improvement in the rpm and axial torque generation. The results indicate that the peak RPM and torque of the engine are improved by 34.3% and 32.2%, respectively.

Keywords: energy harvesting; gadolinium; low grade thermal energy; magnetocaloric effect; thermomagnetic engine (TME) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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