Dissertation
Use of nylon blends for lightweight vapor cooled shielding of liquid hydrogen fuel tanks
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2017
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/107443
Abstract
Liquid hydrogen is a crucial energy carrier for aerospace applications. Decades of research have been undertaken to design the lightest weight and most efficient storage vessels possible, culminating in the radiation shielded, vacuum jacketed design. While efficient, the design is typically fabricated from metal which reduces the specific energy and gravimetric capacity of the tank. Reduction in mass is a continual goal for the design of aerospace vehicles. The research presented in this dissertation builds upon the ideas that have produced successful cryogen storage vessels and has extended the potential for performance by integrating novel material and manufacturing methods. The new paradigm in cryogenic storage technology now includes the use of carefully selected polymers, permeation barriers, and additive manufacturing technology. Advances in 3D printing technologies have enabled the incorporation of a heat exchanger into the tank structure itself, thereby reducing mass and volume while providing vapor cooling for the stored liquid hydrogen. Integrating the heat exchanger creates a complex structure that conventional manufacturing methods (e.g. machining) are not well suited for. This research evaluates fused deposition modeling (FDM) and selective laser sintering (SLS) along with a suite of low density engineering polymers to create a vapor cooled liquid hydrogen storage tank. The tank is designed through an iterative process using computational fluid dynamics and finite element modeling to meet thermal and structural performance requirements. The prototype tank is used in a series of liquid nitrogen boil-off tests to validate model performance, as well as a liquid hydrogen fill to demonstrate performance of a novel fueling manifold. The resulting gravimetric capacity of the vapor cooled tank is 14.5\\% with a 55\\% volumetric efficiency. The energy density of the tank is 4.5 GJ/m$^3$ with a specific energy of 15 MJ/kg. The resulting tank is suitable for 20 kg and larger unmanned aerial vehicles powered with hydrogen fuel cells.
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Details
- Title
- Use of nylon blends for lightweight vapor cooled shielding of liquid hydrogen fuel tanks
- Creators
- Patrick Adam
- Contributors
- Jacob Leachman (Advisor)Amit Bandyopadhyay (Committee Member)Soumik Banerjee (Committee Member)Konstantin Matveev (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 185
- Identifiers
- 99900581828501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation