Plenary Lecture
Fluid Flow Strategy in Thermo-Magnetic Cooling Applications: Numerical Simulations and Measurements
Professor Carmen Vasile
ICube Laboratory of University of Strasbourg
INSA - Graduate School of Science and Technology
France
E-mail: carmen.vasile-muller@insa-strasbourg.fr
Abstract: Analyzing exponential growth of energy demand of world population, global warming, and energy shortage to come from fossil energy, the EU Regulations require high-energy efficient and environmental friendly systems. Thermo-magnetic cooling and air-conditioning is an example of innovative and environmental friendly technique with various applications as: commercial refrigeration (industrial, residential, medical), air conditioning (transport, buildings, etc.). Besides the energy saving, the major advantage of this technology, based on magnetocaloric effect, is the total absence of gas harmful for the environment. This presentation will put in evidence the recent advances in the multiphysics conception, related to the structure and the functioning of thermo-magnetic systems compared with the classical compressors used today. Research has been done for different main structural components as magnetocaloric alloys and permanent magnet configurations. The results have been analyzed and integrated in numerical simulations that will be presented. The core of magnetocaloric system is an equivalent of a micro or a mini-heat exchanger with a specific design of the fluid flow circulation. This will be presented and explained. A good correlation has been found between numerical simulations and in situ measurements. Magnetic cooling technology has experienced significant developments over the last years and the high number of scientific publications describing the performance of exiting prototypes show that there is a viable alternative to the gas existing system that is the magnetic cooling with low global warming potential.
Brief Biography of the Speaker: Carmen Vasile is Associate Professor and Researcher at ICube Laboratory of University of Strasbourg, team of Fluid Mechanics. She is teaching at INSA, Graduate School of Science and Technology of Strasbourg in the Department of Energy, Heating & Air Conditioning. Mainly focused on modeling, experimentation and computational fluid in interaction with their environment, the activity of the MecaFlu team is related to transport problems in fluid flows and, for one of the thematics, in porous media. Hence C. Vasile performs research activities and academic teaching in the field of heat transfer, fluid dynamics, magnetic cooling, energy efficiency and sustainable development. She is also an active reviewer for different international journals such as International Journal of Refrigeration. Since the First Thermag Conference in 2005, she participated to the almost all IIF-IIR International Conferences on Magnetic Refrigeration at Room Temperature all over the world. As for the fifth edition in 2012, she was the Editor in Chief and co-organizer of the 5th International Conference on Magnetic Refrigeration at Room Temperature (Thermag V) in Grenoble, France. The research in the field of magnetic cooling, heat transfer and fluid flow is visible in more than forty international scientific journals and conferences. In the last ten years she achieved different research projects as national French project ANR, Interreg regional French, German and Swiss projects, and European FP7 project on Magnetic Refrigeration topics.