Sustainable Composite Hydrogen Storage Tanks

RISE have expertise in design & simulation, material testing, manufacturing and prototyping development, sustainability analysis and advice.

The current team is built up of approximately 20 scientist, engineers and technicians working on this subject, with research and development projects covering aerospace, mass transport and marine applications with an ambition to expand in the future with more prototyping, testing equipment and researchers.

Design and simulation:

The team develop solutions from concept to detailed design including material and failure modelling, combining hand calculations, finite element modelling and material selection. This is then linked to the process simulation of winding patterns and subsequence curing kinetics. The process simulation knowledge is then linked to the prototyping and testing requirements.   Software used by this team include, Abaqus, ANSYS and CADWind

Sustainability:

For a new technology to be acceptable and exploited, it needs to consider the environmental impact. RISE  have expertise in life cycle analysis, (LCA) circular economy, sustainable material selection, recycling technologies and opportunities as well as end of life assessments.

Manufacturing equipment:

• The filament winding equipment consists of a 4-axis Josef Baer with a maximum mandrel diameter of 550 mm and a maximum winding length of 1250 mm. The curing takes place in a programmable oven with dimensions (l x b x h) 2300 x 1190 x 1490 mm
• NDE processes, from fibre volume fraction measurements, ultrasonic measurements (DOLPHICAM) to optical dimensional assessments (GOM systems)

Testing equipment:

• Mechanical testing is performed in an INSTRON machine with associated climate cabinet from the same manufacturer. This equipment can perform characterization in the temperature range of -150 to +350°C
• DMA is a DMA Q800 from TA instruments with associated GCA (Gas Cooling Accessory). With the help of this equipment, materials can be characterized in the temperature range of -150°C to 600°C
• Pressure testing (using water) up to 100 bar

Rise current project portfolio include research areas such as:

1. High performance storage LH² tank development
2. Circular economy-based storage solutions
3. Low-cost automotive focused storage tank development

Please contact us to discuss our research and how we could support in your hydrogen storage development