A New Dimensionless Number for Type IV Composite Pressure Vessel Designer to Increase Efficiency and Reduce Cost

Stephane Villalonga

Abstract

A new dimensionless number (DN) is proposed in order to evaluate the performance of a high-pressure vessel composite structure. It shows that very few composite part is used at its maximum loading potential during bursting. Today, for 70 MPa on-board type IV composite tanks, DN values close to 20%. The suggested DN will be a useful indicator for an industrial application. By maximizing the DN at the design phase, it is possible to minimize the mass of the composite structure of a CPV, to reduce the manufacturing time and cost. To increase the DN as close as possible to 100%, it is necessary to succeed in increasing the overall loading of the composite structure, to have better oriented fibre. For this, it seems necessary to find new processes which make it possible to better orient the fibre.

Funding source: "Part of this work is supported: • by European Commission FP6 program for STORHY project (Hydrogen Storage Systems for Automotive Applications), Grant agreement n° 502667 • by European Commission FCH-JU for COPERNIC project (COst & PERformaNces Improvement for Cgh2 composite tanks), Grant agreement n° 325330, • by French Research National Agency (ANR) through Hydrogene et Piles à Combustible, project OSIRHYS IV (“Outils de Simulation pour les Réservoirs d’HYdrogene de type IV” : “Simulation tools for H2 type IV CPV”) , ANR-09-HPAC-010."

Keywords: Future Gas Policy & the Hydrogen Economy

Related subjects: Safety

Countries: France