Numerical Modeling for Rapid Charging of Hydrogen Gas Vessel in Fuel Cell Vehicle

Abstract

As a fuel for power generation, high-pressure hydrogen gas is widely used for transportation, and its efficient storage promotes the development of fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). However, as the filling process takes such a short time, the maximum temperature in the storage tank usually undergoes a rapid increase, which has become a thorny problem and poses great technical challenges to the steady operation of hydrogen FCVs. For security reasons, SAE J2601/ISO 15869 regulates a maximum temperature limit of 85 °C in the specifications for refillable hydrogen tanks. In this paper, a two-dimensional axisymmetric and a three-dimensional numerical model for fast charging of Type III, 35 MPa, and 70 MPa hydrogen vehicle cylinders are proposed in order to effectively evaluate the temperature rise within vehicle tanks. A modified standard k-ε turbulence model is utilized to simulate hydrogen gas charging. The equation of state for hydrogen gas is adopted with the thermodynamic properties taken from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) database, taking into account the impact of hydrogen gas’ compressibility. To validate the numerical model, three groups of hydrogen rapid refueling experimental data are chosen. After a detailed comparison, it is found that the simulated results calculated by the developed numerical model are in good agreement with the experimental results, with average temperature differences at the end time of 2.56 K, 4.08 K, and 4.3 K. The present study provides a foundation for in-depth investigations on the structural mechanics analysis of hydrogen gas vessels during fast refueling and may supply some technical guidance on the design of charging experiments.