A Numerical Study for Performance Prediction of a Metal Hydride Thermal Energy Conversion System Elaborating the Superadiabatic Condition

Suyun Ham, Sanggoo Kang and Kyu-Jung Kim
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Suyun Ham: Department of Civil Engineering, the University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
Sanggoo Kang: Department of Civil Engineering, the University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
Kyu-Jung Kim: Controlled Thermal Energy Engineering, Inc. (CTEE, Inc.), Champaign, IL 61820, USA

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-18

Abstract: In this study, we investigate a numerical-modeling method uniquely performing analyses of 50 different metal hydrides to find the optimized thermal effect. This paper presents a metal-hydride thermal energy conversion method, which offers an alternative approach to the traditional vapor-compression heat pump associated with conventional heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). The authors have developed an innovative heat pump applicable to non-vapor compression-based systems, which are in compliance with low-temperature heat source requirements for operation. The new heat pump has a high-energy savings potential for both heating and cooling that featured two different metal-hydrides, that are distributed inside parallel channels filled with porous media. Thermal energy conversion is developed as a set of successive thermal waves. The numerical-modeling results present the enhanced thermal effect, which is attained in a synchronous motion of the thermal waves and the heat source (or sink) inside paired porous media channels, which accompanies the phase transition in the succession of unit metal-hydride heat pumps. The results present in a form convenient for the prediction of thermal energy efficiency based on the proposed thermal-conversion method in real devices that were experimentally verified in previous work. The non-vapor technologies will be operational with low energy input, which makes it possible to utilize waste heat or low-level heat often found in the environment such as solar radiation, exhaust gas from a heat engine, or high-temperature fuel cell system.

Keywords: metal-hydride; heat pump; porous media; thermal wave; temperature; HVAC; non-vapor compression (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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