Thermal Integration of an SOFC with A High Performance Metal Hydride Storage System: A Systems Approach

Abstract

Fuel cells are currently attracting interest because of their potential in power supply in stationary, portable and transport applications. In many applications, metal hydride tanks offer an interesting method of storing hydrogen as an alternative to compressed or liquefied hydrogen due to the low pressure requirements and high volumetric capacity. 1D, 2D and 3D models using Matlab & Comsol have been created to study the coupling of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell and high temperature metal hydride. This enables complete understanding of the systems behaviour during the heating-up process and aids in the design of the metal hydride & auxiliary hydrogen tank. Thermal integration of the metal hydride tank with an SOFC system should allow the recovery of heat needed for hydrogen desorption and can be considered in the market of Auxiliary Power Units (APU) for trains and trucks. A design for a metal hydride tank optimized for coupling with SOFC exhaust heat is presented along with simulation calculations of the start-up and continuous operation operational modes.