Multi-Phase Hydrogen Fuel Storage With Gaseous Flow Buffer
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Solution Overview
Problem
Utilizing hydrogen as fuel in gas turbine engines presents challenges such as difficulty in storing sufficient quantities, complex pressurization and heating requirements, and synchronization issues between fuel pumping and metering systems, leading to engine output fluctuations and inefficiencies.
Innovation Solution
A multi-phase fuel system incorporating a gaseous hydrogen storage tank that dampens flow and temperature fluctuations, allowing for the use of negative displacement pumps and simplified control systems to maintain consistent pressure and flow, decoupling pumping from metering, and utilizing a liquid hydrogen storage tank to maintain pressure with simple pumps.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If hydrogen gas is used as fuel in gas turbine engines, then energy production and combustion efficiency are improved, but storage difficulty and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The fuel system is segmented into multiple independent components: a liquid hydrogen storage tank, a gaseous hydrogen storage tank, a vaporizer, a pressurization system, and a fuel delivery system. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently for its specific function, managing the overall system complexity while enabling high energy production.
Solution Approach 2:
Hydrogen is pre-stored in liquid form at cryogenic temperatures and pre-vaporized before entering the engine. The liquid hydrogen is stored in an insulated tank and then vaporized in a dedicated vaporizer chamber, preparing the fuel in advance to reduce combustion system complexity and improve energy delivery efficiency.
2Ease of operation
If fuel pumping and metering systems are synchronized, then fuel delivery control is improved, but system complexity and fluctuations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The metering function is extracted from the pumping system and placed downstream in the fuel delivery system. The pump delivers hydrogen to the engine, while a separate metering device controls the precise fuel quantity at the point of injection, simplifying the overall control architecture and reducing fluctuations.
Solution Approach 2:
A gaseous hydrogen storage tank acts as an intermediary buffer between the liquid hydrogen storage and the engine combustion chamber. This intermediate gaseous phase stabilizes pressure fluctuations and decouples the pumping and metering operations, reducing system complexity while maintaining ease of fuel delivery control.
3Device complexity
If liquid hydrogen storage tank maintains pressure with simple pumps, then system complexity is reduced, but pressure stability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates a gaseous hydrogen storage tank as a pressure buffer before the fuel enters the combustion chamber. This gaseous phase absorbs pressure fluctuations and provides a cushioning effect, maintaining pressure stability while allowing the use of simple pumps in the liquid hydrogen storage system.
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
The system stabilizes hydrogen fuel delivery, reducing fluctuations and enabling efficient engine output control, thereby enhancing engine performance and reducing waste by maintaining consistent pressure and flow.
Implementation Method 1
A multi-phase fuel system incorporating a gaseous hydrogen storage tank that dampens flow and temperature fluctuations
Implementation Method 2
utilizing a liquid hydrogen storage tank to maintain pressure with simple pumps
Data Source
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AI summary
Hydrogen fuel systems and related methods are disclosed. An example apparatus (300, 400, 500, 600) includes a liquid hydrogen storage tank (302) to include hydrogen fuel in a liquid phase, and an at least one of gaseous or liquid hydrogen storage tank (310, 602) to include the hydrogen fuel in a gaseous phase or the liquid phase, a first portion of the hydrogen fuel in at least one of the gaseous phase or the liquid phase to exit the at least one of gaseous or liquid hydrogen storage tank and flow to a combustor (118, 314) of an engine (26), a second portion of the hydrogen fuel in at least one of the gaseous phase or the liquid phase to exit the at least one of gaseous or liquid hydrogen storage tank and flow to the liquid hydrogen storage tank.