Abstract
In recent years, the mobility (air/land) industry has been developing fuel-cell vehicles for mass adoption as hydrogen technology matures. Compared to conventional metallic design, the composite overwrapped pressure vessel without a metal or polymer liner results in a lightweight solution for gaseous hydrogen storage which further improves fuel efficiencies. Since the capabilities of automated fiber placement for making multi-stiffened structures are distinct from other automated manufacturing techniques, this study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of implementing AFP into the manufacture of a small scale COPV with a partially composite liner. The manufacturing related challenges are identified and discussed. During the manufacturing process, Distributed fiber optic sensor was embedded between the plies, as a structural health monitoring solution, to monitor the mechanical performance of the pressurized tank. In addition, finite element study was done to predict the internal strains for different pressure levels and the measured experimental strains at the sensor's location are found to be in close agreement with the finite element results. It is shown that such sensors can be integrated into automated fiber placement manufactured tanks for internal strain monitoring.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have