Engineering Development of a HYCSOS Chemical Heat Pump

摘要

Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) is developing a hydride conversion and storage system (HYCSOS) that is capable of thermal energy storage and space heating and cooling. As a thermal storage medium, metal hydrides provide a high-energy density; however, the economics of such a system are currently unattractive. As a chemical heat pump, a metal hydride system offers the promise of using solar energy, waste heat, natural gas and other energy sources to provide space heating and cooling. The incorporation of an electrical power generation cycle is also a possibility. The HYCSOS chemical heat pump utilizes the heat of absorption and desorption of hydrogen from different metal hydride beds to provide space heating or cooling. In its simplest form, a hydride heat pump consists of two different hydride beds that are interconnected to allow hydrogen gas transfer between them. Past work at ANL has concentrated on demonstrating the feasibility of the concept, and on the development of metal alloys suitable for this application. Recently, an engineering development program has been initiated to study the various system aspects of the hydride chemical heat pump. This study has included conceptual designs of various systems. The engineering development of a heat pump which uses a unique tubular hydride bed that can be cycled rapidly is described. This design features a large number, about 200, of individual tubes. Each tube contains a high temperature hydride at one end, and a low temperature hydride at the other end. The central portion of the tube is designed to allow hydrogen to flow freely between the ends but retard the flow of heat between the ends. (ERA citation 05:017539)