Long-distance heat transport system using a hydrogen compressor

A heat transport system using hydrogen absorbing alloys offers several advantages, such as enabling the use of more compact long-distance transport pipes, maintaining a constant level of efficiency regardless of transport distance, and enabling rapid transport. On the other hand, the system supplies heat to a load through a heat pump with a 20 K difference. The system therefore cannot be used for heat loads that require a higher temperature difference. Then, in order to increase heat load applications, we have proposed a hybrid heat transport system that uses a hydrogen compressor. We also developed a system structure and achieved a heat pump with a 40 K difference by using a 0.2-kW experimental system. Furthermore, we focused on using the same structure on the heat source side for supplying various heat loads, and have proposed a basic concept for a wide-area heat utilization system that transports heat to various loads from centralized heat sources. (C) 1998 International Association For Hydrogen Energy.