• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.202-211
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• 1995

Heat and hydrogen transfer characteristics have been experimentally investigated for a hydride reaction bed, in which hydride material LaN $i_{4,7}$A $l_{0.3}$ is contained for hydrogen storage. This problem is of particular interest in the design of metal hydride devices such as metal-hydride refrigerators, heat pumps, or metal-hydride storage units. Transient behavior of hydrogen transfer through the hydride materials as well as heat transfer is studied during absorption and desorption processes in detail. The experimental results obtained indicate that the mass flow of the hydrogen is strongly affected by the governing parameters, such as the initial pressure of the reaction bed, absorption or desorption period, and cooling or heating temperature. These mass transfer results are along with the heat transfer rate between hydride materials and heat transfer medium in the reaction bed.d.d.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.295-301
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• 2013

Long-term global energy-demand growth is expected to increase driven by strong energy-demand growth from developing countries. Fusion power offers the prospect of an almost inexhaustible source of energy for future generations, even though it also presents so far insurmountable scientific and engineering challenges. One of the challenges is safe handling of hydrogen isotopes. Metal hydrides such as depleted uranium hydride or ZrCo hydride are used as a storage medium for hydrogen isotopes reversibly. The metal hydrides bind with hydrogen very strongly. In this paper, we carried out a modeling and simulation work for absorption/desorption of hydrogen by ZrCo in a horizontal annulus cylinder bed. A comprehensive mathematical description of a metal hydride hydrogen storage vessel was developed. This model was calibrated against experimental data obtained from our experimental system containing ZrCo metal hydride. The model was capable of predicting the performance of the bed for not only both the storage and delivery processes but also heat transfer operations. This model should thus be very useful for the design and development of the next generation of metal hydride hydrogen isotope storage systems.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.448-454
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• 2012

In this paper, a three-dimensional hydrogen absorption model is applied to a thin double-layered annulus ZrCo hydride bed and validated against the temperature evolution data measured by Kang et al. The present model reasonably captures the bed temperature evolution behavior and the 99% hydrogen charging time. The equilibrium pressure expression for hydrogen absorption on ZrCo is derived as a function of temperature and the H/M atomic ratio based on the pressure-composition isotherm data given by Konishi et al. In addition, this present model provides multi-dimensional contours such as temperature and H/M atomic ratio in the thin doublelayered annulus metal hydride region. This numerical study provides fundamental understanding during hydrogen absorption process and indicates that efficient design of the metal hydride bed is critical to achieve rapid hydrogen charging performance. The present three-dimensional hydrogen absorption model is a useful tool for the optimization of bed design and operating conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.49-55
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• 2012

Hydrogen isotopes accountancy and storage are important functions in a nuclear fusion fuel cycle. The hydrogen isotopes are safely stored in metal hydride beds. The tritium inventory of the bed is determined from the decay heat of tritium. The decay heat is measured by circulating helium through the metal hydride bed and measuring the resultant temperature increase of the helium flow. We are reporting our preliminary experimental results on the hydrogen isotopes accountancy and storage performance in a metal hydride bed.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.128-135
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• 2013

The nuclear fuel cycle plant is composed of various subsystems such as a fuel storage and delivery system (SDS), a tokamak exhaust processing system, a hydrogen isotope separation system, and a tritium plant analytical system. Korea is sharing in the construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) fuel cycle plant with the EU, Japan, and the US, and is responsible for the development and supply of the SDS. Hydrogen isotopes are the main fuel for nuclear fusion reactors. Metal hydrides offer a safe and convenient method for hydrogen isotope storage. The storage of hydrogen isotopes is carried out by absorption and desorption in a metal hydride bed. These reactions require heat removal and supply respectively. Accordingly, the rapid storage and delivery of hydrogen isotopes are enabled by a rapid cooling and heating of the metal hydride bed. In this study, we designed and manufactured a vertical-type hydrogen isotope storage bed, which is used to enhance the cooling performance. We present the experimental details of the cooling performances of the bed using various cooling parameters. We also present the modeling results to estimate the heat transport phenomena. We compared the cooling performance of the bed by testing different cooling modes, such as an isolation mode, a natural convection mode, and an outer jacket helium circulation mode. We found that helium circulation mode is the most effective which was confirmed in our model calculations. Thus we can expect a more efficient bed design by employing a forced helium circulation method for new beds.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.36-43
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• 2013

In this paper, a three-dimensional hydrogen desorption model is applied to a thin double-layered annulus ZrCo hydride bed and validated against the temperature evolution data measured by Kang et al. The present model reasonably captures the bed temperature evolution behavior and the 90% hydrogen discharging time. In addition, the performance of thin double-layered annulus bed is evaluated by comparing with a simple cylindrical bed using hydrogen desorption model. This study provides multi-dimensional contours such as temperature and H/M atomic ratio in the metal hydride region. This numerical study provides fundamental understanding during hydrogen desorption process and indicates that efficient design of the metal hydride bed is critical to achieve rapid hydrogen discharging performance. The present three-dimensional hydrogen desorption model is a useful tool for the optimization of bed design and operating conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.520-529
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• 1998

Heat and mass transfer behaviors of metal hydride beds were predicted by solving a set of volume-averaged equations numerically both for the gas (hydrogen) and the solid(metal hydride) phases. Time variations of temperature and hydrogen concentration ratio distributions were obtained for internally cooled, cylindrical-shaped beds with metal(aluminum) fins imbedded in them. Also, time variations of the space-averaged hydrogen concentration ratio were obtained. Temperature and velocity of the coolant, hydrogen pressure at the gas inlet, and the fin spacing were taken as the parameters. The hydrogen absorption rate increases with the higher velocity and the lower temperature of the coolant, and with the decrease of the fin spacing. Increasing of the hydrogen pressure at the gas inlet also promotes the rate of absorption though the increasing rate gradually slows down. The amount of the hydrogen storage per unit volume of the bed decreases with the tighter fin spacing despite of the higher absorption rate ; therefore, there should be an optimum fin spacing for a given volume of the system and the amount of the hydrogen storage, in which the absorption rate is the highest.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.541-546
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• 2015

Global energy shortage problem is expected to increase driven by strong energy demand growth from developing countries. Nuclear fusion power offers the prospect of an almost infinite source of energy for future generations. Hydrogen isotope storage and delivery system is a important subsystem of a nuclear fusion fuel cycle. Metal hydride is a method of the high-density storage of hydrogen isotope. For the safety storage of hydrogen isotope, depleted uranium (DU) has been widely proposed. But DU needs a safe test because It is a radioactive substance. The authors studied a small-scale DU bed and a medium-scale DU bed for the safety test. And then we made a large-scale DU bed and stored hydrogen isotopes in the bed. Before the hydriding/dehydriding, we tested it's heating and cooling properties and carried out an activation procedure. As a result, Reaction rate of DU-$H_2$ is more rapid than the other metal hydride ZrCo. Through the successful storage result of our large bed, the development possibility of the hydrogen isotope storage technology seems promising.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.24-30
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• 1989

Prototype metal hydride chemical heat pump was constructed using $LaNi_{4.7}Al_{0.3}$ for high temperature hydride and $MmNi_{4.15}Fe_{0.65}Al_{0.2}$ for low temperature hydride, and the effects of operating conditions on the performace of heat pump were investigaed to find out the optimum operating condition. Operating variables considered in this work were cycling time, temperature of hot air blown to the high temperature reactor, the amount of hydrogen gas with which the system was charged initially, and the flow rate of air at both reactors. Power of heat pump increases monotonically as $T_h$ increases, and shows maxima at 4.8H/M and 15-25 min in $H_2$ charged and cycling time respectively. Power of heat pump increases as air flow rate increases at low flow rate, but saturates to some value confined by heat flow rate through the hydride bed, These all phenomena can be explained by the modified power equation.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.225.1-225.1
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• 2010

Within recent years attention has been focused on the method of hydrogen storage using metal hydride reactor due to its high energy density, durability, safety and low operating pressure. In this paper, a numerical study is carried out to investigate the coupled heat and mass transfer process for absorption in a cylindrical metal hydride hydrogen storage reactor using a newly developed model. The simulation results demonstrate the evolution of temperature, equilibrium pressure, H/M atomic ratio and velocity distribution as time goes by. Initially, hydrogen is absorbed earlier from near the wall which sets the cooling boundary condition owing to that absorption process is exothermic reaction. Temperature increases rapidly in entire region at the beginning stage due to the initial low temperature and enough metal surface for hydrogen absorption. As time goes by, temperature decreases slowly from the wall region due to the better heat removal. Equilibrium pressure distribution appears similarly with temperature distribution for reasons of the function of temperature. This work provides a detailed insight into the mechanism and corresponding physicochemical phenomena in the reactor during the hydrogen absorption process.