UK’s National Composites Center will test a series of lightweight linerless LH2 tank demonstrators.
To help develop the UK industry’s capability to design, manufacture and test liquid hydrogen tanks, the National Composites Center has launched a composite cryogen tank testing program.
The program is intended to validate design tools to support the UK’s aerospace, transport and energy industries.
Most existing designs for storing liquid hydrogen (LH2) use metallic tanks, which are too heavy for use in aircraft. Lightweight composite tanks have been developed by the space industry, but they are focused on single-use applications, where aircraft tanks must be refiled many times over decades of use, says the Bristol, England-based National Composites Center (NCC).
The center says it is developing a knowledge base for composite cryogenic tanks by developing product demonstrators with increasing complexity, starting with a linerless carbon-fiber tank for storing LH2.
The NCC has also developed a baseline set of cryogenic conceptual design tools covering tank design-space exploration, as well as permeability, microcracking and thermal and mechanical stresses. These tools can be used by industry to enable detailed tank design and manufacturing risk analysis.
Testing of cryogenic tanks currently requires access to specialist facilities, the NCC says, and the center has partnered with Filton, England-based fluid systems specialist Filton Systems Engineering to develop a tank testing program that uses an LH2 vacuum test chamber and cryo-rated test instrumentation.
For the tank testing and tool validation program, NCC has manufactured five linerless carbon-fiber demonstrator tanks, using a mix of automated fiber placement, tape winding and hand layup. These will be used for the LH2 testing program that started at the end of April with results expected this summer.
NCC says the composite cryogenic tank program builds on its investment in developing capabilities for hydrogen pressure vessels and composite smart pipes to help establish a hydrogen supply chain in the UK.
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