Leung K. Heung

A Transient Model of Induced Natural Circulation Thermal Cycling for Hydrogen Isotope Separation

The property of selective temperature dependence of adsorption and desorption of hydrogen isotopes by palladium is used for isotope separation. A proposal to use natural circulation of nitrogen to alternately heat and cool a packed bed of palladium coated beads is under active investigation, and a device consisting of two interlocking natural convection loops is being designed. A transient numerical model of the device has been developed to aid the design process. It is a one-dimensional finite-difference model, using the Boussinesq approximation. The thermal inertia of the pipe walls and other heat structures as well as the heater control logic is included in the model. Two system configurations were modelled and results are compared.Copyright