The Dynamics of Hydrogen Transfer in a Metal Hydride Heat Pump

The hydrogen transfer between metal hydride reactors in a heat pump has been studied experimentally using two different pairs of hydrides. It is shown that the sorption kinetics and the heat transfer processes in both reactors are coupled and that they together determine the rate of H transfer, although heat transfer resistances dominate in the present set-up. Convection on the fluid side of the reactors is not a negligible resistance to heat transfer. 9 ref.--AA