Modeling the control of the desorption rate of hydrogen released from the adsorption storage bed to supply a fuel cell

Abstract

The storage of hydrogen by adsorbent materials has been addressed by several researchers. These materials can serve as a reservoir of hydrogen at a very lower temperature, and the emptying operation to supply the fuel cell is simply heating the adsorbent bed. However, to maximize the ability of the adsorbent materials to meet the instantaneous hydrogen demand, adequate knowledge of desorbed hydrogen flow rate (DHR) must be investigated. The objective of this study is to model the control of the DHR induced by heating. The results show that the excess of hydrogen stored in the adsorbent material can be completely released at room temperature and the DHR increases with temperature. A solution is proposed for stabilizing the DHR, which consists in controlling the fuel cell supply section and, consequently, the power to be produced.