509 results about "Hydrogen tank" patented technology

For a mobile fuel cell system a narrow-gap modular approach allows reforming to be performed in the same architecture as the fuel cell. A regenerative fuel cell operates much like a battery using electrical power to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The preferred mode of using the regenerative fuel cell is as a battery charger since this application is able to use a much smaller fuel cell than is required to power the vehicle. A novel equilibrating tank between the electrolysis oxygen and hydrogen tanks allows pressurized oxygen and hydrogen to be used without mechanical compression equipment.

An apparatus for rapidly filling a hydrogen tank with a hydrogen gas comprises a hydrogen source; a hydrogen tank; a passage which connects the hydrogen source and said hydrogen tank; and a mechanism for varying the hydrogen-filling rate. The mechanism for varying the hydrogen-filling rate changes the hydrogen-filling rate depending upon the pressure within said hydrogen tank. The apparatus can suppress heat generation at the initial filling stage where the temperature is easily increased. Also, even if it takes longer time for increasing the pressure within the hydrogen tank at the initial filling state, the delayed time can be caught up and, the apparatus and the process of the present invention can totally attain a rapidly filling with hydrogen.

A solar electrolysis power co-generation system includes a solar electrolysis source and a control unit. The solar electrolysis source includes a solar panel, an electrolysis unit, a hermetically sealed compressor, a hydrogen tank, and a hydrogen-powered fuel cell and produces, compresses, and stores hydrogen gas that is used to fuel the fuel cell. The control unit includes an inverter, a microprocessor, and a modem. The control unit connects the solar electrolysis power source with a power grid and with an individual consumer having an electrical load. The power co-generation system utilizes the electrolysis of water and solar energy to power a fuel cell. The energy produced with the fuel cell may be provided to an existing power gird as well as to an individual consumer. Further a method for decentralized power co-generation includes the step of providing a plurality of solar electrolysis power co-generation systems.

The present disclosure provides a system and method for safely charging hydrogen using real-time hydrogen tank expansion data. The system includes an expansion measurement unit, a vehicle-side control unit, a charging station-side control unit, and a wireless communication unit. The expansion measurement unit is disposed on a hydrogen tank of the vehicle, and measures the degree of expansion of the hydrogen tank and generates a corresponding output signal. The vehicle-side control unit converts the output signal into data wireless output signal. The charging station-side control unit stops hydrogen replenishment by a hydrogen charger when the wireless output signal indicates an unsafe degree of tank expansion based. The wireless communication unit is provided to perform wireless data communication between the vehicle-side control unit and the charging-side control unit.

The present invention relates to a metal nozzle boss provided with a sealing device, which has highly improved tightness and is combined with a plastic liner of a composite vessel used as a high-pressure vessel. The metal nozzle boss uses an elastic seal ring and a tightening piece in the plastic liner, so that the nozzle boss reliably seals the junction of the nozzle boss and the liner and prevents gas leakage from the vessel. The blade part of the nozzle boss has a dovetail-shaped locking groove, with locking ridges formed in the locking groove. Thus, when the plastic liner is produced by injecting molten resin into the locking groove, the plastic liner is securely combined with the metal nozzle boss. The composite vessel having the metal nozzle boss can be used as a fuel tank for natural gas vehicles or a hydrogen tank for fuel cell vehicles.

An hydrogen tank filling apparatus includes a first hydrogen supply pipe for supplying hydrogen substantially at an atmospheric temperature from a high-pressure hydrogen storage tank to a hydrogen tank, a second hydrogen supply pipe for supplying cooled hydrogen from the high-pressure hydrogen storage tank to the hydrogen tank, and an internal tank temperature measuring unit for measuring the temperature inside the hydrogen tank. The first hydrogen supply pipe and the second hydrogen supply pipe are selectively switched by a control unit, depending on changes in the temperature inside the hydrogen tank.

There is provided a gas tank that suppresses an increase in pressure of a gas filled therein. A hydrogen tank comprises a tank main body filled with hydrogen, a thermofoamable heat-insulating layer provided on the external surface of the tank main body, a relief valve which is provided at the left end of the tank main body and which reduces the pressure in the tank main body by releasing the hydrogen in the tank main body, and a liner which extends from the relief valve toward the right end and which detects an increase in temperature. The relief valve is thermally connected to the liner, and is actuated based on heat transferred from the liner in order to release the hydrogen in the tank main body, thereby reducing the pressure in the tank main body.

In a fluid leakage detection apparatus, hydrogen is supplied from a hydrogen tank to an FC stack of a fuel cell via first and second pipes. An inlet valve is provided between the hydrogen tank and the first pipe, and an outlet valve is provided between the first pipe and the second pipe. A controller serves to control valve opening a valve closing operation of the inlet and outlet valves, respectively. Those valves are closed in a state where the pressure within the hydrogen tank is made lower than the pressure within the first pipe, and the pressure within the second pipe is made lower than the pressure within the first pipe by operating those valves. Thereafter, the increase or decrease in the pressure within the first pipe is detected by a pressure gauge such that the leakage in the inlet valve or the outlet valve is determined. This makes it possible to detect the leakage both in the inlet valve and the outlet valve at the same time.

Hydrogen tanks 21 are located in the vicinity of a front axle of a left front wheel FWL and a right front wheel FWR in a front space 61 of a motor vehicle and are arranged to have their longitudinal axis along a width of the vehicle. The hydrogen tanks 21 are positioned at a height substantially the same as a mounting height of a front bumper 64. This layout desirably ensures sufficient spaces in a trunk room 62 on the rear side of the vehicle and in a passenger compartment of the vehicle. This layout also enables the load of the hydrogen tanks 21 to be directly applied to the left and right front wheels FWL and FWR, while ensuring the good weight balance over the width of the vehicle. The positioning of the hydrogen tanks 21 at substantially the same height as the mounting height of the front bumper 64 effectively reduces a potential shock to the hydrogen tanks 21 in the event of a vehicle collision.

Disclosed is an improved analytical method that can be utilized by hydrogen filling stations for directly and accurately calculating the end-of-fill temperature in a hydrogen tank that, in turn, allows for improvements in the fill quantity while tending to reduce refueling time. The calculations involve calculation of a composite heat capacity value, MC, from a set of thermodynamic parameters drawn from both the tank system receiving the gas and the station supplying the gas. These thermodynamic parameters are utilized in a series of simple analytical equations to define a multi-step process by which target fill times, final temperatures and final pressures can be determined. The parameters can be communicated to the station directly from the vehicle or retrieved from a database accessible by the station. Because the method is based on direct measurements of actual thermodynamic conditions and quantified thermodynamic behavior, significantly improved tank filling results can be achieved.

Provided is a hydrogen station that is used to charge hydrogen to a hydrogen tank mounted on a vehicle, the hydrogen station including: a compressor that compresses hydrogen; a lubricant cooling unit that cools the lubricant of the compressor while circulating the lubricant; a hydrogen cooling unit that is capable of cooling hydrogen which is not charged to the hydrogen tank mounted on the vehicle yet and is compressed by the compressor; a sensor that detects whether the vehicle approaches or reaches the hydrogen station; and a startup unit that starts up at least one of the lubricant cooling unit and the hydrogen cooling unit by a signal from the sensor.

A safety valve device has a safety valve body configured to include a valve mechanism opened at a temperature of or over a preset reference temperature. The safety valve device also includes a gas flow path arranged to make a flow of hydrogen flowing out of a hydrogen tank via the safety valve body in a valve open position of the valve mechanism, and a discharge pipe configured to have a hydrogen discharge opening and arranged to discharge the hydrogen flowing through the gas flow path to the outside. The hydrogen discharge opening of the discharge pipe is formed to discharge the hydrogen in an oblique direction relative to a direction of an axial center of the gas flow path. The discharge pipe also has a groove formed to apply an input rotational force to the discharge pipe and thereby rotate the discharge pipe around the axial center of the gas flow path. In a typical application of a high-pressure gas tank with such a safety valve device mounted on a vehicle, this arrangement of the safety valve device enables the discharge direction of the high-pressure gas that is discharged from the safety valve device to be readily adjusted.

A control method for a hydrogen filling system is provided. A hydrogen filling system (S) includes a vehicle (V) that sends unique information (V, MC) of the hydrogen tank and detected values (T, P) of sensors, and a station (9) that determines a filling mode based on this information (V, MC, P, T), and fills hydrogen to the tank in this determined mode. A station ECU (95) calculates predicted values (T′, P′) of the temperature and pressure inside of the hydrogen tank during filling of hydrogen based on the unique information (V, MC), continuously confirms whether the detected values (T, P) of the sensors and the predicted values (T′, P′) match while filling fuel, and in the case of an inconsistency between the detected values and predicted values being confirmed, interrupts filling of fuel in the filling mode determined based on the unique information.

In a fuel cell system of the invention, a pressure regulator is provided in the pathway of a hydrogen supply conduit that connects a hydrogen tank to a fuel cell stack. An anode off gas discharged from the fuel cell stack is recirculated through a recirculation pipe into the hydrogen supply conduit. A hydrogen pump is provided in the pathway of the recirculation pipe to increase the pressure of the anode off gas. A control unit of the fuel cell system includes a hydrogen pump control module, an abnormality diagnosis module, and an atmospheric pressure-based correction module. The hydrogen pump control module regulates the rotation speed of the hydrogen pump corresponding to a power demand to be output from the fuel cell system. The abnormality diagnosis module detects an abnormal state, based on a result of determination of whether the pressure of the hydrogen supply measured by a pressure sensor is within a certain range defined by two preset threshold values. The atmospheric pressure-based correction module corrects the rotation speed of the hydrogen pump and the threshold values used for abnormality diagnosis according to the atmospheric pressure measured by an atmospheric pressure sensor. Even in the state of unstable output of the pressure regulator with a variation of the atmospheric pressure, such correction compensates for the varying flow rate of the hydrogen supply to the fuel cell stack and thus effectively prevents misjudgment of abnormality diagnosis. Namely the technique of the invention reduces the potential effect of the varying pressure of the hydrogen supply to the fuel cell system with a variation of the atmospheric pressure.

An air-cooled fuel cell-powered motorcycle allowing early detection of a malfunction in a fuel cell stack. The fuel cell-powered motorcycle includes a vehicle body; an electric motor for driving a driving wheel, an air-cooled fuel cell for supplying electric power to the electric motor and a hydrogen tank for storing a fuel gas supplied to the fuel cell, respectively housed in the vehicle body; a fan for supplying air as a reactant and a coolant to the fuel cell; and an exhaust duct for discharging the air having cooled the fuel cell out of a rear end of the vehicle body, the exhaust duct having an inlet connected to a rear end portion of the fuel cell.

The present invention provides an arrangement structure of component parts for a fuel cell vehicle that efficiently arranges various component parts of a fuel cell system, a hydrogen supply system and an electric driving system to make the best use of interior space, improve weight distribution of the vehicle, reduce noise, and provide security against a rear-end collision.

The arrangement structure of the present invention includes an engine room, in which a motor 11 and an air blower 12 are mounted on an upper portion of a frame 10, and component parts of an electrical system and a fuel cell system are arranged on an upper portion of the motor 11; an under-floor 20, on which a humidifier 21, a stack 22, a fuel processing system (FPS) box 23, and a hydrogen tank 40 are mounted; seats 29, beneath which electronic parts are arranged on the under-floor 20; and a trunk room, in which a super-capacitor and an initial charging device are mounted.

A tank system for the cryogenic storage of hydrogen includes a tank structure with at least one hollow body for accommodating liquid hydrogen and at least one insulating means, which encloses the tank structure, for insulating the at least one hollow body. The tank structure has an exterior shape that is integrateable in a load-bearing primary structure of an aircraft. The tank structure is load bearing and is designed to at least partially absorb a load introduced into the primary structure. This makes it possible to achieve a particularly efficient design of an aircraft in which the fuselage of the aircraft is not divided into two parts by the hydrogen tank integrated therein, can be arranged near the center of gravity, and essentially does not increase the additional weight of the aircraft.