Volume 44: Energy Transitions toward Carbon Neutrality: Part VII

Performance Optimization of a PCM based Array Metal Hydride Hydrogen Storage Reactor Yang Ye, Ziyang Zhang, Honghui Cheng, Jingjing Liu, Kai Yan, Jing ding, Weilong Wang

Abstract

Metal hydrides (MH) are promising solid hydrogen storage materials with significant reaction heat effect applied in reactors. Phase-change materials (PCM) have been used as thermal management media in the MH reactor. To further improve the performance of such reactors, this study proposed a novel PCM-based MH (MgH2) reactor with array layouts, aiming to construct a heat transfer interface with a high specific surface area. A mathematical model was developed to describe the process of heat transfer and absorption reaction. The results showed that an increase in the number of array units significantly increased the heat transfer area and enhanced the heat transfer and hydrogen absorption rate. The array reactor with seven units had a 1.8 times increase in the absorption rate compared to the traditional reactor with only one array unit.

Keywords Metal hydrides, Hydrogen storage, Phase change materials, Array reactor, Heat transfer