Experimental and numerical study on temperature rise within a 70 MPa type III cylinder during fast refueling

The fast refueling of hydrogen results in a temperature rise, which may lead to the failure of the hydrogen storage cylinder. Hence, study of temperature rise during refueling is a significant concern regarding hydrogen safety. In this research, a well-design system for 70 MPa hydrogen refueling was developed. Several refueling experiments on a type III cylinder have been conducted to study the temperature rise during the refueling process on this system. The experimental results show that the gas in caudal region and the aft domes junction surface achieved the maximum temperature rise. A Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model was also validated by the experimental results. Finally, effects of initial pressure and ambient temperature on temperature rise were studied using this model. The results show that with the increase of initial pressure and the decrease of the ambient temperature, the final gas temperature decreases approximately linearly. This pilot research can provide invaluable guidance in developing advanced refueling standard. Copyright (C) 2013, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.