Effect of Delivery Condition on Desorption Rate of ZrCo Metal Hydride Bed for Fusion Fuel Cycle

For the safety of fusion fuel cycle, hydrogen isotope gases including tritium are stored as metal hydride form. To satisfy fueling requirement of fusion machine, rapid delivery from metal hydride bed is one of major factors for the development of tritium storage and delivery system. Desorption from metal hydride depends on the operation scenario by pressure and temperature control of the bed. The effect of operation scenario and pump performance on desorption rate of metal hydride bed was experimentally investigated using ZrCo bed. The results showed that the condition of pre-heating scenario before actual delivery of gas affected the delivery performance. Different pumps were connected to desorption line from bed and the effect of pump capacity on desorption rate were also found to be significant.