Parametric study of a metal hydride reactor with phase change materials and heat pipes.

Summary: This paper presents a numerical study of a new high‐temperature metal hydride bed configuration integrating a phase change material (PCM) and equipped with heat pipes. The first half of the heat pipe is incorporated into the metal hydride (MH) tank and the second into the PCM domain to enhance heat transfer between two domains. A parametric study of different thermophysical and geometrical parameters of both media (MH and PCM) was carried out. In the simulations, the thermal conductivities of the MH and the PCM, the convective heat transfer coefficient, the melting temperature, and the number of heat pipes were investigated to evaluate their effects on the kinetics of absorption and melting of the PCM. Numerical results showed that the reactor performance improved upon increasing the PCM thermal conductivity, the convective heat transfer coefficient and the number of heat pipes and also by considering an optimal melting temperature, which ensures good hydrogen storage capacity in a minimum loading time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]