Numerical study of the dynamic behavior of a metal hydride pump

• A mathematical model describing the dynamic behavior of MHP was developed.
• The effect of different parameters on the performance of MHP was evaluated.
• Improvement of the pumping time was investigated.
• Comparison between steady and unsteady models was performed.

Metal hydride pump (MHP) is one of the unconventional pumping systems. This type of pump converts thermal energy into mechanical energy using hydrogen as a working fluid to pump liquid for low head and high discharge by Solovey AI and Frovol VP (2001).[1]. The MHP has been worked out in order to solve problems of availability of electricity or fossil energies in certain freestanding regions.In the present paper a numerical study of the dynamic behavior of MHP has been carried out with Mg2Ni alloy at various operating parameters (Desorption temperature, absorption temperature, gear ratio, pump head and surfaces of piston). This study shows that, with MHP, it is possible to pump as much as 1375 l of water in 10,000 s at a desorption temperature of 623 K and for pumping head of 5 m using one kg of Mg2Ni. Also a simulation was performed to optimize the pumping time by the integration of a heat exchanger in the metal hydride bed. In addition, a comparison between results obtained with steady and unsteady models is done.