Materiales Magnetocalóricos para Aplicaciones de Refrigeración Magnética y Recolección de Energía Térmica

Primary energy consumption throughout the world continues to increase and many countries, including Costa Rica, make efforts to reduce their carbon footprint, achieve carbon neutrality, and reduce their environmental impact. However, the emission of greenhouse gases and other pollutants persist, creating a set of environmental problems that demand immediate intervention. The scientific community has searched for clean energy alternatives to help reverse the negative effects caused by global warming, pollution, and the depletion of the ozone layer. Within this effort, the need for energy-efficient and environmentally friendly refrigeration, heat pumping, air conditioning, and thermal energy harvest systems is currently more urgent than ever, becoming the subject of significant basic and applied research over the past two decades. Functional materials, representing a fast-growing set of advanced materials with properties (electromagnetic, thermal, mechanical, shape, color etc.) which are responsive to external stimuli can be used to develop new applications in the energy sector. As sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives, energy conversion and magnetic refrigeration based on magnetocaloric materials are among the best options available to achieve these technological and socio-environmental objectives.
This project has the aim of evaluating and improving the energy performance of materials with magnetocaloric properties in magnetic refrigeration applications with thermal control elements, and thermomagnetic energy generation by collecting and reusing low-level waste heat. To achieve this objective, two effective methods are used to measure the efficacy of these novel technologies: advanced computational modeling and simulation techniques, supported by modern experimental design approaches that involve the optimization of system parameters and conditions; as well as experimental work to validate the computational model and calculate the thermal efficiency of a prototype of a magnetic refrigerator and a thermomagnetic regeneration device. For the modeling and simulation work, experimental data on the magnetic and thermal behavior of different ferromagnetic alloys with magnetocaloric properties are used, along with computational energy and flow models. Top-notch computational software (CAE) is used, such as COMSOL Multiphysics, SolidWorks and MATLAB. For the experiments, magnetic cooling and thermomagnetic generation devices are designed and manufactured with elements and instruments for the automatic control, acquisition, and data processing of electrical signals (LabVIEW), involving advanced analytical skills (Big Data). Furthermore, with the help of the Digital Twins concept, the real physical behavior of both applications designed is studied in a virtual environment. Finally, by the means of modern design of experiments (DOE) techniques for computational simulation, the validation of the developed models and the optimization of the parameters and working conditions, allow both the systems to ideally achieve their maximum performance.

Evaluar el desempeño de materiales funcionales con propiedades magnetocalóricas en sistemas de refrigeración magnética y dispositivos de recolección y reutilización de energía térmica

1. Caracterización de Materiales y Ensayos no Destructivos (END)
2. Tecnologías Avanzadas para el Desarrollo y Aplicación de Materiales.