Design and optimization of metal hydride reactor with phase change material using fin factor for hydrogen storage

The solid-state hydrogen storage in metal hydride (MH) is safer and energy efficient than the gaseous and liquid storage methods. The absorption of hydrogen in MH is highly exothermic. Hence, a good heat management system is required to increase the charging rate. The phase change material (PCM) can be integrated into the reactor to reuse the absorption heat for hydrogen desorption. The present numerical study models the concentric cylindrical reactor with magnesium (Mg) as MH surrounded by sodium nitrate (NaNO3) as PCM using COMSOL Multiphysics v6.1. The effect of buoyancy inside the PCM domain is investigated. An iterative approach is used to determine the required amount of PCM. Copper fins are added inside both MH and PCM. The effect of the number of fins, corresponding fin thickness and pitch on hydrogen absorption are determined to optimize the MH reactor. The outcomes reveal that the hydrogen absorption rate increases with fin numbers. The reactor with 10 and 30 fins takes 86.5 and 97.3 % less time than without fins for 90 % hydrogen absorption, respectively. The novel approach is proposed to estimate the fin efficiency (eta f) using temperature profiles of MH and fin during prevailing unsteady heat and mass transfer. The fin factor (Ff) is presented using the eta f and mass of MH. The performance evaluation criterion (PEC) is discussed based on hydrogen absorption relative to the system's weight. Further, the effect of operating parameters like hydrogen supply pressure and the initial temperature is studied on the reactor performance.