Design, construction and characterization of an intermediate pressure range hydrogen source based on hydride forming materials

MANGIAROTTI F; GRACIELA BERTOLINO; ALBERTO BARUJ; GABRIEL MEYER

New delhi, India

Congreso; WHTC 2009 - World Hydrogen technologies Convention 2009; 2009

WHTC

We describe the design and construction of a portable hydrogen source based on the use of hydride forming materials for gas storage and compression. Our main goal is to use this device as a hydrogen source in different experimental setups. Considering an outlet pressure range between 3 bar and 60 bar for source temperatures between 22oC and 150oC, we have selected LaNi5 as hydride. This alloy has considerable stability against cyclic degradation and the additional advantage of being easy to reconstitute using a simple thermal treatment. We have selected 316L stainless steel for the source vessel, considering that it has to stand elevated hydrogen pressures during its service life. The vessel design takes into account mechanical strength, heat transfer, weight and costs limitations. Finite element modeling was applied to optimize the device design from the mechanical and thermal viewpoints. Given the low thermal conductivity of LaNi5 powder, we placed it in the vessel mixed with Cu wire, and thus obtaining enhanced device sorption kinetics. The source working behavior was characterized experimentally using volumetric equipment and successfully tested in real life in-situ XRD experiments.