Thermal and Compressor-driven Metal Hydride based coupled system for Thermal Storage, Cooling and Thermal Upgradation

Abstract In this study, a lumped model is developed for predicting the dynamic characteristics of coupled reactor system consisting of MgH2 as thermal energy storage material and MmNi4.6Al0.4H6 as temporary hydrogen storage material. The present system is designed for a thermal energy storage capacity of 10 MJ. The effect of inlet temperature of heat transfer fluid on charging and discharging behavior of the system is discussed in detail. The results revealed that the simultaneous cooling and heat up-gradation for the case of the thermal-driven system is limited by the amount of hydrogen transferred between the paired reactors, which calls for the aid of a compressor. A compressor-driven metal hydride tri-generation system i.e., thermal energy storage, cooling and heat upgradation, is proposed and the performance of the integrated system is predicted in terms of COP and energy storage efficiency. The compressor-driven system yielded a maximum COP and a maximum thermal efficiency of 3.85 and 80.28%, respectively.