Transient Three-dimensional Simulation of a Metal Hydride Hydrogen Storage Tank Interconnected to a PEM Fuel Cell by Heat Pipes

The PEMFC heat generation was utilized to desorb hydrogen from a LaNi5 filled MH–Hydrogen Storage tank. Heat pipes were used to transfer of heat from the FC to the MH- tank. The study was conducted using CFD simulation. Results showed that the increase of initial pressure of the MH tank and the cooling temperature of 303 K led to a rise in the hydrogen adsorption performance. In the desorption stage, after passing 4000 s, the amount of 5.39 g of hydrogen is purged from the hydride tank. Additionally, results demonstrated that the total hydrogen discharge rate of 0.304 slpm was achieved only to the expense of 7.36 W of a total of 23.43 W generated heats in the fuel cell. Furthermore, the hydrogen desorption flow rate has gained 45 % for the presented geometry compared to a similar system. Moreover, a very good agreement was found between the present work simulation results and the literature data

Keywords:

PEM fuel cell , Metal hydride hydrogen storage , Heat pipes , Thermal coupling , CFD simulation