Parametric Optimization of a Truncated Conical Metal Hydride Bed Surrounded by a Ring of PCM for Heat Recovery

Sofiene Mellouli; Fatma Bouzgarrou; Talal Alqahtani; Salem Algarni; Kaouther Ghachem; Lioua Kolsi

doi:10.3390/ma16083234

Parametric Optimization of a Truncated Conical Metal Hydride Bed Surrounded by a Ring of PCM for Heat Recovery

Materials (Basel). 2023 Apr 19;16(8):3234. doi: 10.3390/ma16083234.

Authors

Sofiene Mellouli^{1

2}, Fatma Bouzgarrou², Talal Alqahtani³, Salem Algarni³, Kaouther Ghachem⁴, Lioua Kolsi^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Jazan University, Jazan 45142, Saudi Arabia.
² Laboratory of Thermal and Energetic Systems Studies (LESTE) at the National School of Engineering of Monastir, University of Monastir, Monastir 5000, Tunisia.
³ Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Khalid University, Abha 62529, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Industrial Engineering and Systems, College of Engineering, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Ha'il, Ha'il 81451, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Laboratory of Metrology and Energy Systems, National Engineering School of Monastir, University of Monastir, Monastir 5000, Tunisia.

Abstract

Metal hydride (MH) hydrogen storage needs an external heat source to release the stored hydrogen. To enhance the thermal performance of MHs, the incorporation of phase change materials (PCM) is a way to preserve reaction heat. This work proposes a new MH-PCM compact disk configuration (i.e., a truncated conical MH bed surrounded by a PCM ring). An optimization method is developed to find the optimal geometrical parameters of the MH truncated cone, which is then compared to a basic configuration (i.e., a cylindrical MH surrounded by a PCM ring). Moreover, a mathematical model is developed and used to optimize the heat transfer in a stack of MH-PCM disks. The optimum geometric parameters found (bottom radius of 0.2, top radius of 0.75 and tilt angle of 58.24) allow the truncated conical MH bed to reach a faster heat transfer rate and a large surface area of higher heat exchange. Compared to a cylindrical configuration, the optimized truncated cone shape enhances the heat transfer rate and the reaction rate in the MH bed by 37.68%.

Keywords: PCM; heat recovery; hydrogen; metal hydride; truncated cone.

Abstract

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