Study On Heat Transfer In Single Hydride Tank Reactor

Whether the metal hydride storing hydrogen technology can be applied widely is determined by the performance of metal hydride, at the same time, it is closely related to the kinetics of heat and mass transfer of hydriding/dehydriding process. Of the studies on hydriding/dehydriding process in metal hydride reactor tank, numerical simulation can directly reflect the influence of parameters on reaction kinetics. Based on changing computation parameters, optimal operating conditions and reactor dimensions are available.The article is based on the single metal hydride reactor tank prepared by academe group previously, an ideal geometry and physics model is made. By assumption, the process of hydriding in reactor is simplified as an exothermic process of a inner heat source, the reaction of hydrogen with the metal alloy is equivalent to exothermic process of inner heat source from up to end. The thickness of reactor is neglected. The unsteady temperature field governed equation is set up. Using the commercial CFD package Fluent inc., the numerical simulation undertaken here has been performed. Through compared the inner unsteady temperature field of different effective thermal conductivity, reactor dimension, porosity, and following conclusions are gained:1. The effective thermal conductivity influences the distribution of temperature and its gradient remarkably. With bigger effective thermal conductivity, the function of cooling fluid can be carried out effectively, which favorableness for the chemistry reaction is moving to the positive direction. At the same time, bigger effective thermal conductivity can force heat diffuse easily. The recycle life of hydrogen alloy can also be prolonged with little temperature gradient.2. When the radius of cylindrical single reactor tank reduces, the function of outward cooling fluid is more evident. But the hydrogen mass density reduces simultaneously, which result in economic performance of hydrogen storage.