Abstract
Metal hydrides can absorb and desorb hydrogen in reversible reaction by heating or cooling the hydrides. We have developed an actuator consisting of metal hydrides covered with a copper case (23mm diameter, 6mm hight), Peltier elements (38mm×38mm×5mm) to heat or cool the hydrides and a cylinder (46mm diameter, 73mm hight) with metal bellows.
From the experimental results, it was found that the velocity of hydrogen absorption was faster than the desorption, however, its velocity increased as the weight of load on the cylinder increased. The actuator could produce the one stroke displacement of 25 mm within 50 sec in the case of 22.5kg load weight.
