Hydrogen absorption/desorption in a metal hydride reactor accounting for varied effective thermal conductivity

Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of varied effective thermal conductivity on the hydrogen absorption/desorption in a metal hydride (MH) reactor. The effective thermal conductivity of a metal hydride bed was measured by performing steady-state experiment and then compared with the results obtained by employing an existing model. Good agreement was found. Next, numerical simulation on the performance of hydrogen absorption/desorption of the MH reactor was conducted by assuming either varied or constant effective thermal conductivity. Corresponding hydrogen absorption/desorption experiment was performed for comparison. It was found that numerical simulation accounting for varied effective thermal conductivity agrees with the experimental data much better than that with fixed thermal conductivity. This work clearly indicates the need of utilizing the varied effective thermal conductivity model in the design of MH reactors.