Magneto — Caloric effect in gadolinium

The magneto-caloric effect (MCE) is a physical principal, known since 1891 [2]. It is based on the entropy change in several magnetic materials. MCE in cooling systems requires a matrix made of “magneto-caloric” material. In our case we have used the gadolinium (Gd) active matrix with a special cylinder multilayer arrangement. We have tested possible manufacturing technologies and some characteristics of the active matrix of cooling systems.The matrix was made of thin Gd-sheet with a cylinder multilayer configuration.. The temperature changes with the exposition of variable magnetic field have been ascertained. The magnetic field has been generated by an electromagnet and by the system of toroidal NdFeB permanent magnets as well. In the second part of the experiments, we have focused on researching of the ambient temperature influence on MCE in Gd.