Liquid-hydrogen storage and refueling for automotive applications

Conference · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1980 · Alternative Energy Sources; (United States)

OSTI ID:5149985

Peschka, W; Edeskuty, F J; Stewart, W F

The Division of Transportation Energy Conservation of the U.S. Department of Energy, the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL), the Deutsche, Forschungs- und Versuchsanstalt fur Luft- und Raumfahrt (DFVLR), and the New Mexico Energy Institute are participating in a cooperative project to examine the use of liquid hydrogen as an automotive fuel by investigating the liquid-hydrogen refueling process, assessing safety problems in this application of liquid-hydrogen-fueled vehicles, and demonstrating the state of the art in liquid-hydrogen-fueled vehicles. A 1979 Buick Century with a 3.8-L displacement turbocharged V-6 engine has been converted to operation on hydrogen which is supplied to the engine from a 150-L on-board liquid-hydrogen storage tank. The car is being routinely refueled with liquid hydrogen using a refueling station that was designed and built by the DFVLR. The present on-board liquid-hydrogen storage tank, designed and built by the DFVLR, will be replaced with a 150-L tank being built jointly by LASL and the DFVLR. The new tank is cylindrical in shape with a stainless steel inner vessel and an aluminum outer vessel with two copper radiation shields cooled by boiloff hydrogen gas. The liquid-hydrogen transfer process has been examined and actual losses are compared to calculated losses. Liquid-hydrogen losses such as boiloff are not too difficult to determine; however, operating losses, such as occur during refueling, are more nebulous. Transfer losses involve the mass of metal to be cooled down, heat leak through the thermal insulation, cooldown of the pressurization gas, and flashing. Some of these losses depend upon the flowrate and some depend upon the temperature of the transfer lines and the on-board storage tank; therefore, the operating procedure becomes an important factor in minimizing these losses.

• Research Organization: Deutsche Forschungs--und Versuchsanstalt fur Luft-und Raumfahrt, Stuttgart
• OSTI ID: 5149985
• Report Number(s): CONF-801210-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Alternative Energy Sources; (United States) Journal Volume: 5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
080203 -- Hydrogen-- Cryogenic Storage
080600* -- Hydrogen-- Industrial & Commercial Use-- (-1989)
33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
330800 -- Emission Control-- Alternative Fuels
AUTOMOBILES
AUTOMOTIVE FUELS
AUXILIARY SYSTEMS
CALCULATION METHODS
CONTAINERS
DESIGN
ENGINES
FUEL SUBSTITUTION
FUELS
HEAT ENGINES
HYDROGEN FUELS
HYDROGEN STORAGE
INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES
LOSSES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
STORAGE
SYNTHETIC FUELS
TANKS
TESTING
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
VEHICLES