Improving Fast Fill With Phase Change Materials Steelhead Composites – Booth E 70/1

Andrew Coors

CONFIDENTIAL

COMPANY PROFILE

Engineering platform company founded in 2012; In production since 2014

Capital efficient, scalable manufacturing in Golden Colorado

Significant IP in processes, programs and patents

Small and nimble

DOT, CE & ISO product certification

ISO 9001 and AS9100 certified quality management system

Full service engineering, testing, prototyping & production

Global customers in aerospace, defense, automotive, space, robotics, marine and oil & gas

Contract design and manufacturing of vessel and non-vessel composite structures

CONFIDENTIAL

US Department of Energy (DOE) is interested in reducing cost of H2 delivery at gas stations and Pre-cooling H2 gas during fast fill is expensive

…”smart hydrogen storage tank that can reduce or even eliminate the burden of precooling at the hydrogen refueling station without significantly impacting the performance of the hydrogen storage system. “

PURPOSE

CONFIDENTIAL

IDEA STARTED WITH UNDERWEAR

CONFIDENTIAL

Need

• Alleviate “incomplete” fills achieved during fast-fill of compressed gas storage vessels after the gas temperature settles down or decrease/eliminate need for prechiller

Concept Summary

• Apply phase change material (PCM) to COPV as an integral member or as a coating in order to absorb heat and improve fill capacity

• PCM to absorb latent heat from during fast-fill of compressed gas

• Maintaining lower temperature during fast-fill allows for more complete fill of

contained gas as density of gas remains higher

PROJECT SCOPE

CONFIDENTIAL

WHAT ARE PHASE CHANGE MATERIALS?

CONFIDENTIAL

10-20% mass increase in a PCM vessel during fast-fill, relative to non-PCM vessel (with greater potential in type 4 than type 3 vessels)

THEORETICAL PROJECTION

CONFIDENTIAL

HYDROGEN FAST FILL

Pressure rises, vessel temp rises

Pressure settles after vehicle leaves station

Less fill = less driving range

Source: Simulation of the Fast Filling of Hydrogen Tanks. Heitsch et al.

CONFIDENTIAL

ENCAPSULATED PCM

11

• Micro-encapsulated PCM can be present in • Thermoplastic liner • Thermoset resin for composite overwrap • Thermoplastic resin for composite overwrap

CONFIDENTIAL

Material Development

• Filled-system allowing for spray-on application

• Epoxy-based film

• Epoxy-based film with conductivity improvements

Proof of Concept Vessels manufactured

• PCM applied

• Composite overwrap applied

• Autofrettage and Proof completed

Testing • Thermal testing with immersion heater in water

• Fast fill testing with CNG (no H2 filling near us)

PROJECT ADVANCEMENTS TO PRESENT

CONFIDENTIAL

PCM COATING IN TYPE 3 VESSEL

CONFIDENTIAL

TYPE 4 CONCEPT

11

• Polymeric liners that allow/provide • Thermal conductivity • Encapsulated PCM • Low permeability to H2 gas • Good thermal interface to metallic polar bosses • Adequate fatigue performance

CONFIDENTIAL

PCM IN TYPE 4 VESSELS

11

• Active thermal management in Type 4 liners can be achieved by: • Plastic liners with embedded PCM • Improved through thickness thermal conductivity in

composite overwrap • Purpose designed thermal interface between the liner and

overwrap

* Thermal Behavior in Hydrogen Storage Tank for Fuel Cell Vehicle on Fast Filling, Hirotani et. Al., WHEC 16, 2006

*

CONFIDENTIAL

Material Development

• Tailor melt temperature, loading, conductivity of PCM

• Minimize overall mass of added PCM materials

• Embed dangling chain PCM into polymeric matrix for type 4 molding

Manufacturability

• Develop format of PCM materials appropriate for (semi-) automatic application

Validation

• Fast-fill testing to show targeted 10-20% mass gained during fast fill

NEXT STEPS

CONFIDENTIAL

Patents

• US 2014/0305950 A1 • Issued Oct 6, 2014

• US 2016/0109065 A1 • Issued: Apr 21,2016

Trade Secret

• Phase change material (PCM)

• PCM matrix material

• Matrix filler materials

• Conductivity enhancement

• Application methods

• Optimization of composite layup integrating the PCM layer

IP