Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1280439 | International Journal of Hydrogen Energy | 2010 | 12 Pages |
Here we examine how the temporal mean and steadiness of the hydrogen discharge rate of a metal hydride reactor (MHR) vary, when its exit-pressure is deceased quadratically with time. To accomplish this task, a mathematical model accounting for the hydrogen desorption kinetics of LaNi5 and the mass and energy balance in a cylindrical MHR is solved numerically. The initial and final exit-pressures of the MHR are prescribed, whereas the “pressure-drop time” (tPD , during which the exit-pressure is decreasing) and the initial exit-pressure drop rate (p˙e0) are the control parameters. Results of a systematic parameter study indicate that, for a given tPD , increasing p˙e0 generally increases the mean hydrogen discharge rate, while there is a particular p˙e0 that minimizes the variance of the hydrogen discharge rate. The MHR exit-pressure variation therefore can be “optimized” to discharge hydrogen with maximized temporal steadiness. Some other strategies for MHR performance improvement also are discussed here.