Pilot study on the production of hydrogen high pressure vessels by means of thermoplastic radial impregnation of fibre windings

Kurzfassung

As a future energy source, hydrogen offers great potential due to its potentially sustainable production, its versatile applications or its quasi inexhaustibility. Due to the low volumetric storage density of pressure vessels, it is important to store hydrogen efficiently. Therefore, type IV hydrogen storage vessels were considered, consisting of a thermoplastic liner and fibre composite. The principal idea is improving the hydrogen storage efficancy by reducing the vessel weight. Using the thermoplastic radial infusion process the liner cannot only act as a tool for fibre placement and as a permeation barrier against the stored hydrogen, but can also be used as the matrix material of the fibre composite. By converting the liner into a matrix, the tank mass can be reduced and therefore the stored hydrogen volume can be increased. In this pilot study, initial experiments on the fundaments of the thermoplastic radial infusion process were conducted using a simplified cylindrical test body wrapped with carbon fibres. By means of radiation the liner was heated and the molten thermoplastic was pressed into the fibre interstices. The experiments were conducted on selected materials.