The future importance of alternative fuels, e.g. natural gas and hydrogen, has sparked intensive discussions about advantages and disadvantages of new types of fuel storage systems concerning their safety demands. Fuel storage systems for vehicles require a fail-safe design strategy. In case of system failures or accidents, the fuel system has to switch into a safe operation mode. Therefore, Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) and Failure Tree Analysis (FTA) have to be performed in the early design phase in order to minimize the risk of design failures in the fuel storage system. The requirements for compressed fuel storage systems for natural gas and hydrogen as well as liquid hydrogen fuel storage systems are currently based on UN-ECE Regulations. Complex specific components have to be optimised by finite element simulations in order to determine weak spots in the design, which will be overstressed in case of pressure, thermal expansion or dynamic vibrations. According to automotive standards, the performance of alternative fuel tank systems has to be verified in various destructive and non-destructive tests. Because of an ever increasing price for crude oil, alternative fuels will get more and more important. Current alternative fuel storage systems are interesting technical solutions, but for sufficient customer acceptance these systems have to become more competitive with conventional systems and the general confidence in their safety will have to rise. In order to fulfill these demands, the design requirements have to be defined accordingly. A new probabilistic approach for the development of safety concepts is necessary as well as the co-operation of different companies for the research of new materials. These steps will contribute to overcoming the open challenges that remain on the route to volume production of hydrogen storage systems.
Design requirements for alternative fuel storage systems
Designanforderungen an Speichersysteme für alternative Kraftstoffe
2006
7 Seiten, 4 Bilder, 2 Tabellen, 2 Quellen
Aufsatz (Konferenz)
Englisch
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