Study on the Characteristics of Metal Hydride Tanks in Totalized Hydrogen Energy Management System With Renewable Energy

In order to carry out the maximum use of unstable renewable energy, progress of energy storage technology is indispensable. Hydrogen which is one of the storage media has a high possibility of becoming a leading energy career. We proposed the totalized hydrogen energy management system (THEM-System) that consists of fuel cells, water electrolyzes, metal hydride tanks and their auxiliaries. Firstly this paper presents the developed numerical analysis model of metal hydride tanks. From the comparison between calculated results and experimental results, it has been confirmed that the numerical analysis calculation can estimate reasonably the dynamics of the metal hydride tank in the 5 kW class system, and moreover, it has been confirmed that by using this model, the structure and the operation conditions of metal hydride tanks can be designed rationally for the THEM-System. Furthermore, Photovoltaic-Water electrolyzer system which performs suitable control in accordance with unstable weather conditions was introduced. Using this unstable hydrogen supply, the characteristic of the metal hydride hydrogen tank is also examined numerically and experimentally.