BMW develops lighter, smaller liquid hydrogen tank
In the race to bring hydrogen-fueled cars to market, virtually every manufacturer has settled on the compressed gaseous form with one notable exception. BMW has been the lone holdout for the use of liquid hydrogen. BMW's rationale is that liquid hydrogen is more dense than hydrogen gas, even when compressed to 10,000psi. Unfortunately getting hydrogen into liquid form, requires chilling it down to
BMW has been working with a consortium of 34 automakers, aerospace, fuel companies, and universities for the past four and a half years to develop a new storage system for liquid hydrogen. The current cylindrical steel tanks are both heavy and challenging to package in a car and end up absorbing most of the trunk space. BMW's research and development arm Forschung und Technik, along with the consortium, has developed a new composite modular design that can be formed into different shapes allowing greater packaging flexibility. The new tank is claimed to be one third of the weight of the current tank design. It's not known if the new tank does anything to address the issue of fluid boiling. BMW will display the new tank at the StorHy conference in Poissy, France this week.
[Source: BMW]
| The new generation of hydrogen storage tanks: lighter and more compact. Innovative design of liquid hydrogen tanks enables better integration into vehicles | |
| 06/02/2008 |
| Munich. BMW Group Forschung und Technik, the company's research and technology arm, has been working with other car manufacturers to achieve an important step forward in hydrogen storage. Teaming up with partners, including some from the European aerospace industry, the engineers have developed a novel type of tank made of composite material for storing liquid hydrogen. Thanks to its innovative concept, the weight of the entire tank system can be reduced to a third compared with conventional cylindrical steel tanks. Its adaptable form lends it a high degree of flexibility, allowing for significant energy savings. The subsidiary systems, moreover, are integrated inside the tank's casing, which means the tank takes up less room in the car and maintenance is also made much easier. The inner tank is designed on a modular basis, simplifying the production process in comparison with existing hydrogen tanks. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Raymond Freymann, Director of BMW Group Forschung und Technik: "The demonstration model of the new free-form tank being presented marks an important step forward into the hydrogen future. Filled with ten kilograms of hydrogen, it could allow a range well in excess of 500 kilometres in a future vehicle." BMW Group Forschung und Technik is presenting the prototype of this innovative liquid hydrogen storage tank at the final event of the "StorHy" EU project in Poissy near Paris on 3 and 4 June 2008. In the past four and a half years BMW Group Forschung und Technik, along with 34 partners from the European aerospace industry, the automotive and supply industry, and leading universities and research institutes, has been investigating ways of advancing current hydrogen storage technologies (high-pressure, liquid and solid storage). The cost of the project was 18.7 million euros, with EU funding to the sum of 10.7 million euros. BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH is a 100% subsidiary of BMW AG and has been responsible for research within the BMW Group since 2003. Its subject areas cover VehicleTechnology, CleanEnergy (hydrogen technology), EfficientDynamics (intelligent energy management/alternative drive systems), ConnectedDrive (driver assistance/active safety) and ITDrive (IT and communications technology). Its legal independence as a limited company guarantees creative freedom and maximum flexibility. Global access to new trends and technologies is ensured by an internationally established network with branches in the USA (Palo Alto, CA and Clemson, SC), Japan (Tokyo) as well as liaison offices in France with Eurécom (Sophia Antipolis) and in Germany (Saarbrücken) with the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI GmbH). The StorHy consortium: ADETE - Advanced Engineering & Technologies GmbH AIR LIQUIDE Deutschland GmbH Air Liquide S. A. Austrian Aerospace GmbH BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung CENTRE NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE COMAT COMPOSITE MATERIALS GmbH Commissariat à l'énergie atomique Daimler AG Dynetek Europe GmbH ET- Energie Technologie Gesellschaft für innovative Energie und Wasserstofftechnologie mbH European Commission - Directorate General Joint Research Centre Faber Industrie Spa FORD FORSCHUNGSZENTRUM AACHEN GMBH Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH Fundación para la Investigación y el Desarrollo en Automoción CIDAUT GKSS Forschungszentrum Geesthacht GmbH Institut für Verbundwerkstoffe GmbH Institute for Energy Technology Institute for Protection Systems - Prochain e.V. at the University of Applied Sciences Ingolstadt INSTITUTO NACIONAL DE TÉCNICA AEROESPACIAL INTA Linde Aktiengesellschaft MAGNA STEYR Fahrzeugtechik AG & Co KG MATERIAL S.A. MT Aerospace AG, Augsburg National Center for Scientific Research Demokritos Oeko-Institut e.V. Oerlikon Space AG Peugeot Citroën Automobiles The University of Nottingham Volvo Technology Corporation WEH GmbH Wroclaw University of Technology |
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-02-2008 @ 6:12PM
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater said...
You know what does a pretty good job of storing hydrogen atoms at STP?
Gasoline...
Granted, there's those pesky carbon atoms, but if they could be sucked out of the air and converted back into gasoline as a closed-cycle process...
Reply
7-06-2008 @ 2:45AM
Glenn said...
Actually it is no problem to use carbon atoms e.g. from CO2. You simply borrow it from the atmosphere and give it back later:
December 7, 2007, sandia.gov: Sandia’s Sunshine to Petrol project seeks fuels from thin air (pdf):
http://www.sandia.gov/LabNews/ln12-07-07/labnews12-07-07.pdf
December 5, 2007, Sandia National Laboratories - Sandia’s Sunshine to Petrol project seeks fuel from thin air:
http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/releases/2007/sunshine.html
Quote: "...CR5 inventor Rich Diver says the original idea for the device was to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen...Over the past year they have shown proof of concept and are completing a prototype device that will use concentrated solar energy to reenergize carbon dioxide or water, the products of combustion. This will form carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and oxygen, which ultimately could be used to synthesize liquid fuels in an integrated S2P system..."
7-06-2008 @ 2:45AM
Glenn said...
second prt:
Green Freedom (tm) A Concept for Producing Carbon-Neutral Synthetic Fuels and Chemicals (Patent Pending). F. Jeffrey Martin, William L. Kubic, Los Alamos National Laboratory, LA-UR-07-7897:
http://www.lanl.gov/news/newsbulletin/pdf/Green_Freedom_Overview.pdf
Quote: "...Making gasoline from air and water sounds exotic, but now practical technology has been developed to implement known chemical pathways for producing fuel from these abundant raw materials...With Green Freedom(tm), this possibility has progressed beyond speculation to a realistic, low-risk concept because it is based on novel process integration and modest extensions of existing technology..."
Ocean Ethanol. Developing a gas to liquids process that converts Carbon Dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gas to fuels such as Methanol and Butanol. Using only CO2, Water and Electricity:
http://www.oceanethanol.com/CO2/Ocean_Ethanol/Ocean_Ethanol.html
YouTube - CO2 in Seawater To Ethanol, Methanol, Butanol ...:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dufbz176gnk
OK - Some product development is still needed...
7-06-2008 @ 3:06AM
Glenn said...
Third part
Possible future:
(Sorry has not been translated to english):
http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter_Rotating_Ring_Receiver_Reactor_Recuperator
If the black spots are solar collectors with about 8% efficiency (or more) covering some desert area, the worlds energy could be fully CO2 neutral. If the solar energy is used to making synthetic fuel, we simply can store the fuel in simple fuel tanks (energy storage problem solved):
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Solar_land_area.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_fuel
7-06-2008 @ 3:16AM
Glenn said...
Part 5:
Please note that photosynthesis only has a efficiency about 6.6%:
upei.ca: Photosynthesis:
http://www.upei.ca/~physics/p261/Content/Sources_Conversion/Photo-_synthesis/photo-_synthesis.htm
Quote: "...The overall efficiency is then .286x.43x.8x.67 = .066 or 6.6%..."
7-06-2008 @ 3:34AM
Glenn said...
(Missed) part 4
It seems that (natural?) wetlands are good at trapping Carbon - they might be better than anyone imagined:
Iowa State University (2008, May 8). Ponds Found To Take Up Carbon Like World's Oceans. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 8, 2008:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507105549.htm
Quote: "..."Aquatic ecosystems play a disproportionately large role in the global carbon budget," Downing said...The combined effect is that farm ponds could be burying as much carbon as the world's oceans, each year...It may be that ponds will be the modern equivalent of the swamps that formed coal in the past. But before we all rush into making ponds to trap carbon we need to do some basic research here in the UK..."
Aquatic ecosystems could be a big part of the unidentified sink:
Columbia University, Science and Society: The Global Carbon Cycle (Unidentified sink in the illustration "Flux of Carbon" halfway down):
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/edu/dees/V1003/lectures/global_carbon_cycle/
6-02-2008 @ 6:41PM
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater said...
You know what does a pretty good job of storing hydrogen atoms at STP?
Gasoline...
Granted, there's those pesky carbon atoms, but if they could be sucked out of the air and converted back into gasoline as a closed-cycle process...
Reply
6-02-2008 @ 8:21PM
Paolo said...
Imagine if "they" - meaning Big Oil's car company fronts - were spending all this money on battery electrics, rather than the super-lossy-one-day-in-the-distant-future Hydrogen furfy.
They just want to keep selling us fuel, and battery electrics have the awkward possibility of free fuel (if you have a solar panel), and at the very least sidestep Big Oil altogether.
Personally, I'm really tired of hearing about Hydrogen on this forum. It's almost (!) as inefficient as burning gasoline, and it really does look more and more like Big Oil distraction from technology that we already have, technology that is already three times more efficient than this H2 fantasy.
Screw Big Oil. Screw Hydrogen. Where's my electric car?
Reply
6-02-2008 @ 9:07PM
philmcneal said...
honestly bmw wtf does this car cost, why won't you tell us? Because people will be scared the fuck away to even buy one once they know how terribly inefficient it is compared to the other alternative power trains in development.
Reply
6-02-2008 @ 9:20PM
Geoff rider said...
Not to be at all nit picky, but I don't believe that liquid hydrogen starts at -282.57°C as absolute zero is −273.15°C. Anything at absolute zero is shown to become not any specific atom at all being described as Bose–Einstein condensate demonstrating wave like properties. I do however believe liquid hydrogen does start at −252.87°C (−423.17 °F) though :P
Reply
6-02-2008 @ 9:33PM
Sam Abuelsamid said...
Geoff, you're right I transposed the 5 and 8.
Reply
6-02-2008 @ 10:52PM
jake said...
@Paolo
We really need some hydrogen fanboys or something on Autobloggreen, lol, b/c the hydrogen bashing is going full bore here. Okay, the H7 & hydrogen-ICE in general is still horrible in efficiency (even just comparing it to its close relative, the fuel cell) so maybe it's not worth defending, but I think hydrogen still warrants coverage as alternative fuel technology for transportation (which is what Autobloggreen is supposed to cover). Fuel cells likely will work for other things like semi-trucks, airplanes, backup power (applications where batteries still aren't that good for) , and this research in hydrogen storage will be useful for that. You never know, maybe biological hydrogen may work out or maybe with more research they can improve hydrogen-ICE. And no, as a EV advocate, I don't think "Big Oil" is plotting to put hydrogen as the next fuel. The money is the auto company's, so it can spend it how it likes to; some of these companies really believe this to be the "fuel of the future".
Be optimistic, there's a bunch of PHEVs/BEVs from mainstream automakers coming out by 2010, so it's not like hydrogen is killing off PHEV/BEV development (okay I'll admit if any of these plans get replaced with some hydrogen project and it isn't b/c of a game changing improvement in hydrogen, then I'll be pissed).
Reply
6-03-2008 @ 1:29AM
Paolo said...
Jake, I wish it were so, but I really can't see Hydrogen car r&d as doing *anything* other than taking development money away from PHEVs and EVs. The space program has had Hydrogen Fuel Cells for quite some time now, about 50 years isn't it,,,, and which technology do they actually use? Solar.
The head of Royal Dutch Shell has been quoted recently in a pro-oil puff-piece in The Times Online as saying that RDS is Very Optimistic about Hydrogen fueling our *future* "environmentally friendly" vehicles..... and that they fully expect Oil to be Earth's main motive energy source for many decades to come..... but of course.
Sure, I'm being antagonistic, cynical, and somewhat pessimistic, and there *are* bona-fide uses for Hydrogen fuel cell technology, somewhere, but cars? Jeez man, it's less than 40% overall efficiency and there is *no* infrastructure.
One last question - how come BMW is throwing all this money (a million dollars plus per vehicle) + time + energy at H2 Fuel Cell Cars, when a small company like PML Flightlink could retrofit a BMW Mini to Electric-hybrid with a Lithium Ion battery / Supercapacitor / tiny ICE generator, and get 640bhp, top speed of 240km/h, 0-60 in 4.5 seconds, 1500 km autonomy, zero emissions in EV mode for 4 hours, and 80 mpg in hybrid mode,,,,,,,, all with current technology.......(and BMW doesn't want anything to do with it.) ?
http://www.pmlflightlink.com/index.html
Reply
6-03-2008 @ 7:50AM
Das Boese said...
Boiloff can be reduced, but never completely eliminated. Unless you rewrite the laws of physics. Of course, with high-pressure storage you get diffusion losses too, in addition to driving around something similar to a small rocket should the tank rupture in an accident. So it doesn't really matter which way you try to store hydrogen, all of them are impractical for automotive use.
Reply
6-18-2008 @ 2:28PM
Wright said...
I believe hydrogen is the way to go. If the problem is keeping hydrogen frozen, then why not transfer most of the tanks contents to a purpose built tank or freezer once you arrive from work and you can even have an option to make it semi- aumated. Or a tank that is transferable. the whole of it.
Reply
6-22-2008 @ 5:45PM
Wright said...
If the problem is keeping hydrogen frozen, why not transfer the tank's contents to a freezer once you get home, or better find out a way to transfer the whole tank to a freezer once you get home, and it can be made automated, freezer underneath your car once you park in your garage.
NASA 2020
Reply
6-22-2008 @ 7:39PM
Chris M said...
Hmm. Any deviation from a spherical tank increases the surface area, thus increases the rate of heat gain. A "conformable" tank might be easier to shoehorn into the back of a char, but it would also boil off even more of that liquid H2.
Wright, the typical home freezer only goes down to about -30 deg. Celsus (0 deg. Farenheit) which is about 223 degrees shy of keeping liquid H2 from boiling away. A cryocooler capable of reaching those temperatures is extravagantly expensive and uses lots of energy - yet another reason why we won't ever see this in mass production. (no, a handful of prototypes for celebrities to show off doesn't count.)
Reply
6-25-2008 @ 5:45PM
Wright said...
or plug in.
Reply