Dynamic Performance Analysis of a Compressor Driven Metal Hydride Cooling System

Abstract

Though several studies have been reported to show that compressor driven metal hydride cooling systems are competitive with conventional vapor compression systems, an elaborate computational model that takes into account the transient nature of the compressor and the conditioned space is still unreported. The results presented here are obtained for a room air conditioner with Zr0.9Ti0.1Cr0.55Fe1.45 as the hydrogen absorbing material and employing standard heat exchanger configurations. Though previous thermodynamic and transient studies predicted attainment of significant coefficients of performance, the present results indicate that even with the optimal design the maximum coefficient of performance and specific power will be around 2.38 and 750kJ∕kg-alloy.h, respectively. This indicates a need for better materials and effective control strategies so that these systems can become commercially viable.