Thermoplastic pressure vessels for hydrogen storage
Hydrogen will play an important role in energy transformation and future mobility. Being an experienced manufacturer of FRP components, AVANCO COMPOSITES develops CFRP pressure vessels made from thermoplastic UD-tapes which grant technical as well as economical potentials for series manufacturing.
Due to the low volumetric energy density, hydrogen has to be stored at high pressure levels (CGH2). Current high-pressure storage systems are made of a thermoplastic liner, which ensures gas tightness. State of the art pressure vessels are wound with carbon-epoxy composite. Such tanks, defined as type 4 pressure vessels, are able to safely store hydrogen at high pressure levels. Still, these tanks suffer from some limitations such as refueling/emptying time, weight and volume, durability, robustness and recyclability. Thermoplastic pressure vessels (TPPV’s) are a promising alternative to face these challenges. The laser assisted thermoplastic tape winding process in particular offers great opportunities to increase storage efficiency, as well as reducing variation deviations in quality?, due to high quality process control. The process also allows in-situ consolidation, superseding the need for curing in an oven and hereby makes it cleaner and more stable. In addition, the continuous fiber overwrap from TPPV’s allows low downgrade recycling concepts and therefore makes them a promising alternative to current high pressure tanks.
