Light Weight Design of Multi-Layered Steel Vessels for High-Pressure Hydrogen Storage

Abstract

Large scale storage of hydrogen is one of the key factors in hydrogen energy development. High-pressure hydrogen storage technology is widely used in hydrogen storage. It has advantages of easy operating, quick charge and discharge, simple equipment structure and low cost. The multi-layered steel vessel (MLSV) was developed for stationary hydrogen storage, which was flexible in design, safe in operation and convenient in fabrication. MLSV has been used in several hydrogen refueling stations in China. With the construction of hydrogen refueling stations accelerated, the vessel was required to be larger, lighter and cheaper. First, the basic structure of the MLSV was presented. Second, two light-weight methods were proposed and compared, including reducing the safety factor and increasing the strength of the steel band. Finally, the stress in the cylindrical shell of the MLSV using light-weight design were compared with the previous one. In addition, a MLSV using the light-weight method of reducing safety factor has been designed and fabricated, which can store 211 kg gaseous hydrogen at 50MPa.