Research Outputs
Verfahren zum Betreiben eines reversiblen Brennstoffzellensystems mit Metallhydridspeicher, reversibles Brennstoffzellensystem sowie Verwendung hierfür
Characterization of the Reversible Hydrogenation Properties of Sodium Alanate under various contaminated Hydrogen Conditions
Development of Innovative Hydrogen and Micro Energy Solutions at the Austrian Research Centers
Novel Hydrogen Storage Solutions for Space and Aerospace Applications
Novel hydrogen storage solutions are increasingly important for a number of future aerospace and space applications. The Aerospace Engineering Group of the fotec Forschungs- und Technologietransfer GmbH is presently developing an innovative hydrogen storage system based on high pressure hydrogen storage in microspheres. The hollow glass microspheres are loaded with up to 700 bar of hydrogen gas with a thermal process. The gas was released with a special heating wire. Such a system could be used as safety gas generator on satellites and airplanes. An additional space application for hydrogen filled microspheres seemed to be the use as additive in cryogenic liquid storage systems to enlarge the longtime durability. Further projects deals with new energy storage solutions to replace secondary batteries on satellites. We decided to approach this topic by directly coupling a fuel cell with a metal hydride based on Ti-doped sodium alanate. The power dissipation of the fuel cell can be used for desorption of hydrogen where heat is required, instead of being rejected by a heavy thermal control system. This advantage would be very interesting in order to obtain higher weight efficiencies which are especially important for space and submarine applications.
Development of a Ti-doped Sodium Alanate Hydrogen Storage System
A trade-off analysis regarding power supply on satellites, which was performed for the European Space Agency (ESA), suggested that fuel cells might be an interesting candidate to replace secondary batteries on satellites. The Austrian Research Centers (ARC) decided to approach this topic by combining a fuel cell with innovative chemical hydrogen and oxygen storage as well as integrating the oxygen storage system into a form that can be used as a structural element. Also an integration of the fuel cell into the hydrogen tank, and the resulting storage of dissipation heat, results in a reduction of the necessary thermal control system. These advantages are very interesting in order to obtain higher weight efficiencies, which are especially important for space and automotive applications. The complete system includes a hydrogen storage tank based on Ti-doped sodium alanate and a novel oxygen tank based on YBaCo4O7 developed at ARC. Water tanks and a micro-fluidic system connected to the fuel cell have been considered as well in order to provide a completely reversible system, competitive to batteries. For the hydrogen storage, a finite elements model has been developed, implementing the reaction kinetics of the storage process, in order to predict the thermal mechanisms during adsorption and desorption of hydrogen in sodium alanate. The present paper discusses these simulations, the development of an experimental hydrogen storage tank and the proposed concepts of a battery replacement system.