Abstract
Environmental pollution and rapid depletion of fossil fuels had necessitated the search for alternative technologies and energy sources for transportation. Hydrogen fuel can be an environment friendly alternative. High pressure gas is a widely used storage mode for hydrogen fuel. Refueling of a vehicular hydrogen tank should be reasonably short to gain consumer acceptability. However, quick filling at high pressures can result in high temperatures. This should be avoided because of safety reasons. A numerical model can aid in optimizing the filling up process. The paper reports the numerical simulation of the refueling of high pressure hydrogen tanks using computational fluid dynamics method. Real gas equations are included to accurately simulate the process at the high temperature and pressure associated with the fast filling. Local temperature distribution in the tank is obtained at different durations of the fill. The numerical results obtained are validated with available experimental data. The results give an accurate visualization of the thermo fluid dynamic behavior of hydrogen gas during fast filling.
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Heuy-Dong Kim received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Kyungpook National University, Korea, in 1986 and 1988, respectively. He then received his Ph.D. from Kyushu University, Japan, in 1991. Dr. Kim is currently a Professor at the School of Mechanical Engineering, Andong National University, Korea. His research interests include high-speed trains, ramjet and scramjet, shock tube and technology, shock wave dynamics, explosions and blast waves, flow measurement, aerodynamic noises, and supersonic wind tunnels.
Abhilash Suryan received his B. Tech. and M. Tech. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, University of Kerala, India, in 1995 and 1997, respectively. He received his Ph.D. from the Gas Dynamics Laboratory of the School of Mechanical Engineering, Andong National University, Korea in 2012. He is currently working as an Assistant Professor at the Government Engineering College Idukki, Kerala, India. His current research interest is alternative energy technologies.
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Suryan, A., Kim, H.D. & Setoguchi, T. Numerical analysis on thermo-fluid dynamic behavior of hydrogen gas during fast high pressure filling. J Mech Sci Technol 27, 567–573 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-012-1233-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-012-1233-6