Structural Design of Atypical Metal hydride Tank and Investigation of Generated Temperature Fields: Part II
Abstract
In part 1 of the article, temperature fields generated in a metal hydride tank of an atypical shape were investigated, where the tank was immersed in a cooling liquid. For the total temperature in the storage tank to be reduced even more, it is necessary to design an effective passive heat exchanger system that will remove this generated heat towards the inner wall of the storage tank, where this heat will then be effectively removed by the cooling liquid located on the outside of the storage tank. In part 2 of this article, an internal heat transfer intensifier is designed and subsequent verification of temperature fields using simulation in the ANSYS CFX program.
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Introduction
Hydrogen as a safe, clean, efficient and energy carrier is a suitable candidate for reducing and eliminating greenhouse gas emissions. Hydrogen storage technology, which is one of the key challenges in the development of the hydrogen economy, is being addressed by the continuous efforts of scientists. Progress in hydrogen storage technology research and the latest developments in hydrogen storage materials are recorded. Common storage methods such as high-pressure gas or cryogenic storage cannot meet future storage requirements. Therefore, relatively advanced storage methods such as the use of metal hydrides and organic structure and carbon materials are being developed as promising alternatives. The combination of chemical and physical storage of hydrogen in certain materials has potential advantages among all storage methods. Metal hydrides have been intensively investigated to improve their pressure, hydrogen storage capacity, kinetics, cycle stability and thermal response, which depend on the composition and structural properties of the alloys.
The biggest disadvantage of storing hydrogen in metal hydrides is their weight and the need to create an efficient system for cooling the tank, because during the process of absorbing hydrogen into the structure of the metal alloy, heat is released, which reduces the amount of stored hydrogen and reduces the kinetics of absorption. Therefore, research on the cooling system within this hydrogen storage method is essential.
This work deals with the design of a hydrogen storage system in a metal hydride storage tank of an atypical shape with the help of a passive internal heat transfer intensifier, with the help of which the generated heat is removed towards the inner wall of the storage tank, where a storage tank effectively cooled by a cooling liquid is designed.
Conclusion
In the Part 1 article, the temperature fields where cooling of the designed atypical metal hydride tank was not considered were investigated to find the maximum generated temperatures that reached about 50°C. Subsequently, the investigated tank was immersed in the cooling liquid, which reduced the maximum temperature to approximately 41.5°C.
The aim of this article was to create an effective system for dissipating the generated heat from the core of the storage tank through a suitable passive cooler, i.e. an internal heat transfer intensifier, so that the maximum temperature of the designed storage tank could be reduced even more.
After the application of the internal heat transfer intensifier, the maximum temperature in the cylindrical parts was reduced to a temperature of 28.4°C, which significantly increases the kinetics of hydrogen absorption into the metal alloy structure. By properly optimizing the shape of the intensifier, it would be possible to reduce the temperature even more, which will be another part of the research.