Design Optimization of Metal Hydride-Based Hydrogen Storage Reactor Using Fin Efficiency Concept

Abstract

The hydrogenation of metal hydrides (MHs) is a heat-driven mass transfer process. Hence, its rate is determined by the heat transfer rate from the MH reactor. A heat transfer system (HTS) with fins and a cooling tube is one such method to enhance heat transfer. The fin efficiency (FE), hitherto not researched for unsteady processes like the present one, is required for the optimization of the reactor. The present numerical study proposes a new technique to estimate the FE from the temporal temperature profiles in the MH reactor. The effects of fin thickness (FT) and shape are studied. The former is varied from 1 to 7 mm, and the latter is changed to 3 different tapered cross-sections. The FE increases with FT but has a minimal effect after 4 mm, while the fin tapering is found to have no significant influence. A performance evaluation parameter (PEP) is presented to optimize the fin thickness and shape.