• Röver, Tim
• Herzog, Dirk
• Roth, Sebastian
• Hoffmann, Tom

Abstract

Hydrogen as an energy carrier is attributed considerable importance in reduction of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide and transformation of the current economy to a low-carbon one. Production, storage, transportation and application of hydrogen are the key steps in the life cycles of hydrogen. It is desirable to increase the efficiency in any of these steps as well as enhance functionality of the systems. Hydrogen metal hydride storages (HMHS) can be used to store hydrogen at relatively low pressures while being relatively compact in size. Apart from using them for immobile systems they were also found to be beneficial in hydrogen-powered submarines or hydrogen-powered fork lifts. Additive manufacturing (AM) offers great potential for the simple and direct production of complex and functional components made of polymers and metals. Due to the freedom of design, AM offers great innovation potential compared to conventional manufacturing processes. In many cases, component designs that exploit the possibilities of AM show higher technical performance or functionality compared to components manufactured by conventional processes. This work assesses how the freedom of design due to laser powder bed fusion of metals (PBF-LB/M) as an additive manufacturing technique can be utilized for HMHS with better functionality than conventionally manufactured ones. The development of the component design was done using a morphological box. The final design incorporates secondary heat transfer surfaces that are inspired by heat transfer topology optimization. It is made in compact rectangular prism form that is in contrast to conventionally manufactured HMHS which commonly are cylindrical in shape. The design shows great potential for fast loading and customized outer dimensions of the tank to allow for more flexibility in the overall system design.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• surface
• polymer
• Carbon
• selective laser melting
• Hydrogen