Intermittent heat transport using hydrogen absorbing alloys

Abstract

Hydrogen absorbing alloys enable heat to be transported over long distances using hydrogen as the transport medium, with theoretically very little heat loss. This report describes the system structure of a newly proposed heat transport system and an analysis of heat transport efficiency, and offers proof that a high efficiency of about 60% can be maintained by the system regardless of distance. Analytical results of a comparison between our transport method and a conventional method using heated water for the long-distance transport of intermittent heat (such as solar heat and plant waste heat) clearly show that transport by hydrogen enables the use of a more compact pipeline diameter for long-distance transport, that the rise time for heat transport is very short, that small-scale (2 kW) heat can be transported over a long distance, and that transport by hydrogen is much more efficient than transport by heated water for large-scale (100 kW) heat transport at distances over 2 km.