An hydrogen compression system based on AB5 hydrides

Metal hydride thermal compression process offers a quiet and reliable way to compress hydrogen without contamination. A prototype of a three stages metal hydride compressor is currently under development at the Institut de Recherche sur l'Hydrogene (IRH). It uses heating and cooling resources in the 20 to 80oC temperature range and it will be able to compress hydrogen up to 20 bars. The performance of one metal hydride reservoir has been evaluated on a test bench (as a single stage compression unit) in order to measure its thermal cycling behaviour. The lightweight aluminium reservoir equipped with an aluminium heat transfer matrix was designed specially for this application. Its design ensures fast heat transfer rate when heated or cooled by water circulation. Sets of curves showing the outlet pressure, the hydrogen flow rate and the temperature during the initial tests of this reservoir are presented in this paper. (author)