Hydrogen Tank Neck Sealing With Protected Safety Valve Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing refueling devices for fuel cell tanks, particularly those storing hydrogen, face challenges in ensuring the safety and integrity of safety valves under high system pressures, which can lead to damage and failure during accidents or defects, necessitating complex design measures to prevent gas leaks.
Innovation Solution
The integration of a screw connection element with a conical sealing seat inside the tank device, preloaded by a union nut, enhances sealing and protects the safety valve from damage, allowing it to withstand pressure conditions, and eliminates the need for internal connection threads, thereby preventing 'tearing off' and optimizing medium flow control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If safety valves are installed directly on or inside the tank to meet legal requirements, then safety function is ensured, but the valves are exposed to high system pressures (up to 1000 bar) and external influences that can cause damage and failure
Solution Approach 1:
The safety valve device is nested inside the connecting screw element, which is itself installed in the tank neck. This nested arrangement protects the safety valve from external influences while maintaining its safety function. The connecting screw element acts as a protective housing that shields the safety valve from direct exposure to high pressures and external impacts.
Solution Approach 2:
The connecting screw element serves as an intermediary structure between the safety valve and the external environment. It transmits the preloading force from the union nut to the sealing seat while simultaneously protecting the safety valve from direct exposure to harmful external factors such as high pressure and physical impacts.
2Reliability
If complex design measures are taken to protect safety valves from high pressure damage, then valve reliability improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting screw element performs multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support for the safety valve, transmits preloading force for sealing, and protects the safety valve from external influences. This multi-functional design achieves reliable safety valve protection without requiring separate protective structures, thereby avoiding increased device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The safety valve device is merged with the connecting screw element, forming an integrated assembly. This combination eliminates the need for separate protective structures and simplifies the overall design while ensuring the safety valve is protected from high pressure and external influences through the unified structure.
3Ease of operation
If connection threads are formed in the tank housing for internal valve mounting, then valve installation is enabled, but strength-reducing notches are created in the tank housing
Solution Approach 1:
The connection threads are extracted from the tank housing and relocated to the connecting screw element. This extraction eliminates the strength-reducing notches in the tank housing while maintaining the valve installation capability through the threaded connection on the screw element itself.
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
This solution significantly improves the sealing of the tank device, protects the safety valve from external influences, and ensures reliable operation under high pressures, preventing gas leaks and reducing structural weaknesses in the tank housing.
Implementation Method 1
The connecting screw element in the tank neck of the tank container achieves improved sealing because the pressure inside the tank container reinforces the sealing effect.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
The invention relates to a tank device (1) for storing a gaseous medium, in particular hydrogen, comprising at least one tank container (2), wherein said at least one tank container (2) has a tank housing (20) with a tank neck (3). In addition, a connection screw element (5) is arranged in the tank neck (3), wherein said connection screw element (5) is in contact with a conical sealing seat (10) formed on an inner face (8) of the tank housing (20), thereby sealing a tank neck interior (30) of the tank neck (3), and the connection screw element (5) can be pretensioned by means of a union nut element (6) attached to an outer face (9) of the tank housing (20).