An experimental study on thermomagnetic heat engine driven by gadolinium rotor

A novel design of gadolinium based thermomagnetic generator to scavenge low grade thermal energy into electrical energy is presented. Gadolinium(Gd) is one of the distinct material whose Curie temperature is nearly room temperature and this makes a Gd based thermo-magnetic engine a good candidate to harness available waste heat from power plants, HVAC systems and etc. This paper introduces the development of such an engine, where its design and construction is experimentally explored. A series of tests were carried out by changing the temperature of water streams so the difference between them varies from 20°C to 45°C. A maximum power of was 29.4mW was measured when the temperature difference between the hot and cold streams of water was maintained at 45°C, which complies with the thermodynamics principle.