DYNAMIC BEHAVIOR OF PAIRED METAL-HYDRIDES .1. EXPERIMENTAL-METHOD AND RESULTS

Operational characteristics of metal hydride heat pumps are strongly dependent on the P-T-C behaviour of the paired metal hydrides under operational conditions. Changing operational conditions are directly related to the available amount of hydrogen which can be transferred between the paired metal hydrides. Maximum hydrogen transfer rates must be obtained for all operational modes and conditions to attain a high system performance. Therefore, the amount of hydrogen transferred is correlated with the actual behaviour of each metal hydride together with the static P-T-C behaviour to analyse heat pump operations under dynamic conditions. The purpose of this paper is to extend the scope of our detailed study to dynamic behaviour of systems in order to facilitate the design of metal hydride heat pumps.