Abstract
Metal hydride alloys are considered as a promising alternative to conventional hydrogen storage cylinders and mechanical hydrogen compressors. Compared to storing in a classic gas tank, metal hydride alloys can store hydrogen at nearly room pressure and use less volume to store the same amount of hydrogen. However, this hydrogen storage method necessitates an effective way to reject the heat released from the exothermic hydriding reaction. In this paper, a finned conductive insert is adopted to improve the heat transfer in the cylindrical reactor. The fins collect the heat that is volumetrically generated in LaNi5 metal hydride alloys and deliver it to the channel located in the center, through which a refrigerant flows. A multiple-physics modeling is performed to analyze the transient heat and mass transfer during the hydrogen absorption process. Fin design is made to identify the optimum shape of the finned insert for the best heat rejection. For the shape optimization, use of a predefined transient heat generation function is proposed. Simulations show that there exists an optimal length for the fin geometry.
Highlights
In Alaska, interior villages majorly rely on conventional heating power for daily requirements, such as those from combustion-based generators, which use diesel or gasoline as fuels [1]
This paper showed that the hydriding process time to cool to 15 ̋ C and hotspot temperature reduction could be improved simultaneously by the optimal aspect ratio of the fin while the volume fraction ratio was fixed to 0.1
We explored the merits of the hydriding process time in two cases: case (i): cooling with refrigerant circulating inside a tube at the center of the reactor with fins; case (ii): the conditions in the previous case along with external convective cooling from outside of the hydrogen reactor
Summary
In Alaska, interior villages majorly rely on conventional heating power for daily requirements, such as those from combustion-based generators, which use diesel or gasoline as fuels [1]. They operate at low pressures, especially when compared to the compressed hydrogen and do not need to be maintained at cryogenic temperatures, which is required for liquid hydrogen [14,15,16] For these reasons, metal hydrides are considered to be one of the most promising technologies for energy storage. From efforts to enhance the inherent thermal conductivity of the metal hydride powder [17,18,19,20,21,22] to metal compacts pressed at high pressure [17] and to pellet-shaped geometries known as porous metal hydride [19], all of these advances require sintering under high pressure and the use of an organic binder These technologies require an additional material process and deteriorate the mass transfer of H2 attributed to decreased permeability. This can lead to the congestion of finer hydride powder
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