STUDIES ON HEAT AND MASS-TRANSFER IN METAL HYDRIDE BEDS

Experiments are carried out on a cylindrical metal hydride reactor fil led with MmNi(4.5)Al(0.5) powder. The performance of the reactor durin g absorption and desorption is obtained at different heat-transfer flu id temperatures. The experimental results are compared with the numeri cal model which takes into account the variation in bed pressure, hyst eresis and plateau slope. There is a good agreement between the experi mental and predicted heat and mass transfer rates despite some discrep ency in the bed temperatures. The discrepancy in the bed temperatures is attributed to the thermal mass of the reactor and the pressure drop through the bed.