Modelling and Designing Cryogenic Hydrogen Tanks for Future Aircraft Applications

verfasst von
Christopher Winnefeld, Thomas Kadyk, Boris Bensmann, Ulrike Krewer, Richard Hanke-Rauschenbach
Abstract

In the near future, the challenges to reduce the economic and social dependency on fossil fuels must be faced increasingly. A sustainable and efficient energy supply based on renewable energies enables large-scale applications of electro-fuels for, e.g., the transport sector. The high gravimetric energy density makes liquefied hydrogen a reasonable candidate for energy storage in a light-weight application, such as aviation. Current aircraft structures are designed to accommodate jet fuel and gas turbines allowing a limited retrofitting only. New designs, such as the blended-wing-body, enable a more flexible integration of new storage technologies and energy converters, e.g., cryogenic hydrogen tanks and fuel cells. Against this background, a tank-design model is formulated, which considers geometrical, mechanical and thermal aspects, as well as specific mission profiles while considering a power supply by a fuel cell. This design approach enables the determination of required tank mass and storage density, respectively. A new evaluation value is defined including the vented hydrogen mass throughout the flight enabling more transparent insights on mass shares. Subsequently, a systematic approach in tank partitioning leads to associated compromises regarding the tank weight. The analysis shows that cryogenic hydrogen tanks are highly competitive with kerosene tanks in terms of overall mass, which is further improved by the use of a fuel cell.

Organisationseinheit(en)
Institut für Elektrische Energiesysteme
Fachgebiet Elektrische Energiespeichersysteme
Externe Organisation(en)
Technische Universität Braunschweig
Typ
Artikel
Journal
Energies
Band
11
ISSN
1996-1073
Publikationsdatum
01.2018
Publikationsstatus
Veröffentlicht
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Erneuerbare Energien, Nachhaltigkeit und Umwelt, Energieanlagenbau und Kraftwerkstechnik, Energie (sonstige), Steuerung und Optimierung, Elektrotechnik und Elektronik
Ziele für nachhaltige Entwicklung
SDG 7 – Erschwingliche und saubere Energie
Elektronische Version(en)
https://doi.org/10.3390/en11010105 (Zugang: Offen)
https://doi.org/10.15488/3366 (Zugang: Offen)