Experimental comparison on heat transfer-enhancing component of metal hydride bed

Abstract

Metal hydride bed will be one of the key components for safe handling of tritium in fusion fuel cycle. In case of normal or emergency shutdown of fuel cycle, metal hydride bed installed in storage and delivery system (SDS) of tritium plant will absorb tritium gas in the system as soon as possible. Supply of hydrogen isotope gas to fueling system of fusion reactor will start from the metal hydride beds. Rapid delivery, rapid recovery including rapid heating and cooling are key issues. For better performance of metal hydride bed, various forms of heat transfer enhancing component or design can be applied. This study aims to help the selection of heat transfer enhancing component. Two small ZrCo beds with copper foam and copper fin were developed and experimented with hydrogen gas. Recovery and delivery performance, heating and cooling performance are compared. Experimental results show metal hydride bed with copper foam has improved performance. Uniform heating of metal hydride during desorption and removal of reaction heat during absorption are more efficient with copper foam bed than copper fin bed.