Calibration Device Dry Gas Pipe Prevents Dew Condensation
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Solution Overview
Problem
High-pressure hydrogen gas filling processes face challenges in precise calibration due to dew condensation at low temperatures, leading to inaccurate weight measurements and equipment damage in calibration devices.
Innovation Solution
A calibration device with a semi-enclosed structure and a dry gas pipe system that maintains a slightly pressurized state, using a dew-point instrument for humidity management, prevents dew condensation by using inert gases like nitrogen or dried air, allowing continuous operation without waiting for equipment to dry.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If hydrogen gas is cooled at -40°C during high pressure filling, then filling time is reduced and safety is improved, but dew condenses on equipment causing weight measurement errors
Solution Approach 1:
A dry gas pipe introduces dry gas (nitrogen or dried air) into the measurement housing as an intermediary substance. This dry gas creates a protective atmosphere that prevents moisture in the air from condensing on the cold equipment surfaces during hydrogen filling, thereby maintaining measurement accuracy while allowing rapid cooling filling to proceed.
Solution Approach 2:
The measurement housing is filled with dry inert gas (nitrogen or dried air) to create an inert atmosphere. This inert environment replaces the normal air that would contain moisture, preventing dew condensation on the cold hydrogen filling equipment and eliminating the source of measurement errors.
2Speed
If hydrogen is filled at high pressure, then filling speed increases, but temperature of gas and fuel tanks increases causing potential breakage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes the phase transition principle by introducing dry gas that undergoes thermal interaction with the cold hydrogen filling process. The dry gas absorbs heat from the surrounding equipment through phase changes and thermal conduction, helping to maintain lower temperatures during high-pressure filling while preserving filling speed.
3Productivity
If multiple calibrations are performed, then dew condensation and evaporation repeatedly occur on large surfaces, but weight changes become remarkable making precise measurement impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The dry gas pipe is activated before hydrogen filling begins to pre-establish a protective dry atmosphere in the measurement housing. This preliminary action ensures that when cold hydrogen equipment is introduced, no moisture condensation can occur, eliminating the need for repeated drying cycles between multiple calibrations.
Solution Approach 2:
The dry gas flow is maintained continuously throughout the hydrogen filling and calibration process, providing uninterrupted protection against dew condensation. This continuous protective action eliminates the cycle of condensation and evaporation that would otherwise occur during repeated calibrations, maintaining consistent measurement conditions.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables precise and reliable hydrogen gas measurement and filling without dew condensation, ensuring accurate calibration and safety by maintaining a controlled environment and reducing the impact of moisture on equipment.
Implementation Method 1
temperatures of a receptacle, a filling gas supply pipe, a filling vessel and other parts become lower than ambient temperature, so that dew condenses on the equipment
Implementation Method 2
when hydrogen gas is released form the filling vessel of the calibration device, temperature of the filling vessel becomes low due to adiabatic expansion phenomenon to produce water droplets through dew condensation
Data Source
AI summary
To provide a calibration device for an apparatus filling a gas such as hydrogen gas and capable of precisely measuring quantity of the gas such as hydrogen gas that are filled at high pressure. A calibration device of the present invention is characterized by including a filling vessel, accommodated in a measurement housing, to the filling vessel a high pressure fuel gas such as hydrogen gas being fed from outside of the measurement housing, and a scale for measuring a weight of a fuel gas fed to the filling vessel, wherein a dry gas pipe for feeding a dry gas is detachably mounted in the measurement housing. Here, the scale preferably measures the weight of the fuel gas fed to the filling vessel together with a weight of the measurement housing.