Thesis
THERMAL RESISTANCE NETWORK FOR THE DESIGN AND TESTING OF A LIQUID HYDROGEN VAPOR COOLED SHIELDED FUEL TANK
Washington State University
Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
01/2022
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000004577
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/125129
Abstract
Interest in the science, and potential applications, of liquid hydrogen is expanding quickly. This need is largely driven by the climate crisis in an effort to reduce carbon emissions through the use of alternative energy sources and energy carriers. One such newly designed and manufactured application is the use of a lightweight, additively manufactured liquid hydrogen fuel tank for hydrogen powered UAVs. In addition to zero carbon emissions, the fuel cell powered drone makes significantly less noise in flight. This is important as it allows for reconnaissance drones to fly with less chance of detection. This thesis presents a thermal model used to estimate the upper and lower limits of theoretically expected boil-off rates for an additively manufactured liquid hydrogen fuel tank designed to mechanically integrate into the ScanEagle3 drone by Insitu. The purpose for the model is to investigate anomalous experimental data retrieved during initial boiloff validation and testing. The model will also provide a better understanding of the thermal behavior of the tank given various geometric and material constraints. Upon determining best- and worst-case scenarios from the thermal model calculations, it is shown that the primary source of thermal transport is via gaseous hydrogen convection flowing within the insulation layers. Testing is completed on a mechanical redesign which confirms successful isolation of the insulation layers from hydrogen in-leaks. The motivation for a redesign, experimental set-up, and the impacts on associated boiloff rates are discussed.
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Details
- Title
- THERMAL RESISTANCE NETWORK FOR THE DESIGN AND TESTING OF A LIQUID HYDROGEN VAPOR COOLED SHIELDED FUEL TANK
- Creators
- Chelsea Crabb
- Contributors
- Jacob Leachman (Advisor)Konstantin Matveev (Committee Member)Soumik Banerjee (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Science (MS), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 91
- Identifiers
- OCLC#: 1371064786; 99900898739701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis