Reaction kinetics in metal hydride reaction beds with improved heat and mass transfer

Abstract Periodically operating absorption engines, i.e. absorption heat pumps, heat transformers and refrigerators based on metal-hydrogen reactions, are becoming of great interest in technical applications. In order to keep the material inventory small and to design compact machines, short cycle times are necessary. In this paper, experimental investigations of the technical reaction kinetics of various AB5 alloys are presented and it is shown that it is equally important to improve both the hydrogen flow and the heat transfer in a reaction bed.