Magnetic refrigerant designs (packed beds, channeled structures, etc) impact the performance of magnetic cooling technology in multiple fronts - heat transfer, pressure drop, self demagnetizing effects, machinability, etc. FEMCE streamlines this optimization process, providing a user-friendly, free to use, purpose-built 3D simulation software for magnetocalorics.
If you use FEMCE please cite its article: R. Kiefe, J.S. Amaral "FEMCE - A 3D finite element simulation tool for magnetic refrigerants" International Journal of Refrigeration available online https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2025.02.017
- State-of-the-art numerical methods for maximum performance and stability (compatible with first-order phase transitions)
- Import any 3D model and make it simulation-ready with the press of a button (.stl files)
- Simplified mesh generation (set a target element size, get an optimized, locally refined tetrahedral mesh)
- Import all of the thermomagnetic data with a single button
- Freely available. No fees, no subscriptions
FEMCE main proficiency is to calculate the heterogeneous magnetocaloric effect (local temperature and entropy change) on real-world 3D refrigerants with non-linear magnetic properties
FEMCE outputs the effective, maximum and minimum
FEMCE, as the name implies, uses the finite element method to solve a non-linear magnetostatic equation to calculate the 3D magnetic field
FEMCE can do much more when not limited by a user-interface (GUI). Additional functionalities unlocked by the source code:
- Set a temperature gradient on the refrigerant, instead of a uniform temperature
- Handle magnetocrystalline anisotropic materials
- Combine materials and refrigerants in the same simulation (add iron, magnets, multiple refrigerant compositions, etc)
For this additional features, please contact rodrigokiefe@ua.pt or jamaral@ua.pt