This application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2022-107581 filed on Jul. 4, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety including the specification, claims, drawings, and abstract.
The present specification discloses a system for storing liquid hydrogen in a vehicle.
It has conventionally been proposed to store hydrogen in a liquid state as is in a vehicle (such as a fuel cell electric vehicle or a hydrogen engine vehicle) that uses hydrogen as an energy source. For example, a liquid hydrogen storage device in which a liquid hydrogen storage tank is provided in a vacuum tank is disclosed in PATENT DOCUMENT 1.
Here, when liquid hydrogen is vaporized to produce a large amount of hydrogen gas in the liquid hydrogen storage tank, an internal tank pressure is increased excessively. In order to suppress such a pressure increase, in PATENT DOCUMENT 1, a hydrogen storage tank is provided with a discharge pipe, through which the hydrogen gas is discharged to the outside, and the discharge pipe is provided with an open valve and a safety valve in parallel. The open valve is opened at a predetermined first working pressure, and the safety valve is opened at a second working pressure that is higher than the first working pressure. With such a configuration, it is possible to suppress the excessive increase in the internal tank pressure to a certain extent.
However, in PATENT DOCUMENT 1, processing of the hydrogen gas, which is discharged to the outside from the open valve and the safety valve, has not been sufficiently considered. Accordingly, in PATENT DOCUMENT 1, there is room for improvement in ensuring safety in a case where liquid hydrogen is stored in the vehicle.
In view of the above, the present specification discloses a liquid hydrogen storage system capable of storing liquid hydrogen further safely in a vehicle.
A liquid hydrogen storage system disclosed in the present specification includes: a hydrogen tank that stores liquid hydrogen in a vehicle; a first channel that communicates between the hydrogen tank and the outside of the vehicle; a reaction section that causes hydrogen gas flowing through the first channel to react with oxygen for conversion into water and then discharges water to the outside of the vehicle through the first channel; and a first safety valve that is provided between the hydrogen tank and the reaction section, and is opened at the time when an internal tank pressure as an internal pressure of the hydrogen tank exceeds a first open reference value, so as to discharge the hydrogen gas in the hydrogen tank to the reaction section.
With such a configuration, it is possible to safely discharge the hydrogen gas to the outside of the vehicle while suppressing an increase in the internal tank pressure. As a result, liquid hydrogen can be stored further safely in the vehicle.
In this case, the first safety valve may be closed when the internal tank pressure becomes equal to or lower than a first close reference value. The first close reference value may be equal to or lower than the first open reference value.
With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent the hydrogen gas in the tank from being discharged to the outside excessively.
In this case, the liquid hydrogen storage system may further include: a second channel that communicates between the hydrogen tank and the outside of the vehicle; and a second safety valve that is provided in an intermediate portion of the second channel, and is opened at the time when the internal tank pressure exceeds a second open reference value, so as to discharge the hydrogen gas in the hydrogen tank to the outside of the vehicle via the second channel. The second channel may direct the hydrogen gas to an upper portion or a rear portion of the vehicle via a route that avoids a high-temperature area in the vehicle, and may discharge the hydrogen gas in a gaseous state as is to the outside of the vehicle. The second open reference value may be higher than the first open reference value.
With such a configuration, it is possible to further reliably prevent the internal tank pressure from becoming excessively high. In addition, since the hydrogen gas is discharged to the outside of the vehicle via the route that avoids the high-temperature area, it is possible to further reliably ensure safety of an occupant.
In this case, the second safety valve may be closed when the internal tank pressure becomes equal to or lower than a second close reference value, and the second close reference value may be equal to or lower than the second open reference value.
With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent the hydrogen gas in the tank from being discharged to the outside excessively.
In this case, the liquid hydrogen storage system may further include an alarm that outputs a warning when the second safety valve is opened.
With such a configuration, the occupant can recognize occurrence of abnormality to the hydrogen tank and thus can evacuate the vehicle when necessary. As a result, the safety of the occupant can further reliably be ensured.
In this case, the liquid hydrogen storage system may further include: a third channel that communicates between the hydrogen tank and the outside of the vehicle; and a closure member that is provided in an intermediate portion of the third channel to prohibit the hydrogen gas from flowing therethrough, the closure member being destroyed at the time when the internal pressure of the hydrogen tank exceeds a third reference value that is higher than the second open reference value, so as to allow the hydrogen gas to flow therethrough. The third channel directs the hydrogen gas to the upper portion or the rear portion of the vehicle via the route that avoids the high-temperature area in the vehicle, and discharges the hydrogen gas in the gaseous state as is to the outside of the vehicle.
Due to provision of the closure member that is destroyed by the pressure exceeding the third reference value, even in the case where electrical failure occurs, the hydrogen gas can be discharged to the outside of the tank at the time when the internal tank pressure exceeds and becomes much higher than the third reference value. As a result, it is possible to prevent the internal tank pressure from becoming excessively high and to further reliably ensure the safety of the occupant.
In this case, each of the first channel, the second channel, and the third channel may extend toward the outside of the vehicle from vicinity of an upper end of the hydrogen tank in a direction of gravity.
With such a configuration, even in the case where the vehicle and thus a liquid surface in the hydrogen tank are tilted, inlets of the first channel, the second channel, and the third channel are prevented from being filled with liquid hydrogen. Accordingly, the hydrogen gas can appropriately be discharged from the first channel, the second channel, and the third channel according to the internal tank pressure.
The liquid hydrogen storage system may further include a pump that pressurizes the liquid hydrogen stored in the hydrogen tank and outputs the pressurized liquid hydrogen to the outside of the hydrogen tank.
Just as described, it is configured to pressurize liquid hydrogen at the time of taking out liquid hydrogen. Thus, it is possible to suppress the pressure of liquid hydrogen stored in the hydrogen tank to a low value. In this way, it is possible to suppress a maximum allowable pressure of the hydrogen tank itself to a low value and thus to reduce cost associated with the hydrogen tank.
According to the liquid hydrogen storage system disclosed in the present specification, it is possible to store liquid hydrogen further safely in the vehicle.
Embodiment(s) of the present disclosure will be described based on the following figures, wherein:
A description will hereinafter be made on a configuration of a liquid hydrogen storage system 10 with reference to the drawings.
The liquid hydrogen storage system 10 is mounted to a vehicle 100 and stores hydrogen in a liquid state. In this case, the vehicle 100 is a vehicle that uses hydrogen as an energy source, and examples of the vehicle 100 are a fuel cell electric vehicle and a hydrogen engine vehicle. A description will hereinafter be made on the liquid hydrogen storage system which is suited for the hydrogen engine vehicle, as an example. In the hydrogen engine vehicle, a direct-injection hydrogen engine (not illustrated) that injects hydrogen gas directly into an engine cylinder is mounted.
The liquid hydrogen storage system 10 has the hydrogen tank 12 that stores liquid hydrogen. The hydrogen tank 12 insulates and stores liquid hydrogen. For example, a container with a double-pipe structure can be used as such a hydrogen tank 12. In such a container, a vacuum heat-insulation layer is provided between an inner tank formed of SUS and an outer tank covering the inner tank. In order to keep a pressure that is applied to an inner wall uniformly, the hydrogen tank 12 has a spherical shape or a sandbag shape as illustrated in
In the hydrogen tank 12, liquid hydrogen is maintained at low temperature. In the hydrogen tank 12, a pressure of liquid hydrogen is substantially the same as the atmospheric pressure or slightly higher than the atmospheric pressure, and is equal to or lower than 1 MPa, for example. The hydrogen tank 12 is provided with a pump 16 that pumps stored liquid hydrogen and feeds liquid hydrogen to the hydrogen engine side. In this embodiment, this pump 16 is a booster pump that pumps liquid hydrogen while pressurizing liquid hydrogen. This pump 16 is driven by a pump motor 18. By providing the pump 16 that has such a boosting function, it is possible to lower pressure resistance performance required for the hydrogen tank 12 and thereby reduce cost associated with the hydrogen tank 12.
That is, as described above, in this embodiment, the hydrogen engine is of a direct injection type in which the hydrogen gas is directly injected into the engine cylinder. The hydrogen gas to be directly injected has to be at a drastically higher pressure (for example, MPa to several tens of MPa, or the like) than the atmospheric pressure. In order to obtain such high-pressure hydrogen gas, the pressure of hydrogen has to be sufficiently high before vaporization; that is, in the liquid state. Thus, there is also considered storing liquid hydrogen at the high-pressure (for example, several tens of MPa) in the hydrogen tank 12. However, in this case, the pressure resistance performance of the hydrogen tank 12 has to be improved, which increases the cost associated with the hydrogen tank 12 and increases weight of the hydrogen tank 12.
Meanwhile, in this embodiment, the pressure of liquid hydrogen in the hydrogen tank 12 is set to a pressure that is substantially the same as or slightly higher than the atmospheric pressure. When liquid hydrogen is vaporized, only an amount of liquid hydrogen that is required for the vaporization is taken out by the pump 16 after the pressure thereof is sufficiently increased. With such a configuration, it is possible to obtain the hydrogen gas at the sufficiently high pressure while suppressing the pressure resistance performance of the hydrogen tank 12 to be low.
A collector 14 that is depressed from a surrounding area is provided to a bottom surface of the hydrogen tank 12. The pump 16 is arranged in this collector 14. With such a configuration, even when a remaining amount of liquid hydrogen becomes small, it is possible to position the pump 16 in the liquid and thus to pump liquid hydrogen to a last drop.
As illustrated in
In addition, as illustrated in
The first port 22 is a port that communicates with the first channel 24 (see
The first safety valve 20 may be an electrically operated valve that is opened/closed when receiving an electrical signal, or may be a mechanical valve that is opened by mechanical deformation caused by application of a specified magnitude of the pressure or higher. In this embodiment, the first safety valve 20 is a solenoid valve that is opened/closed in response to a control signal from the controller 54.
A reaction section 25 is provided on a downstream side of the first safety valve 20. In the reaction section 25, the hydrogen gas flowing through the first channel 24 reacts with air (more precisely, oxygen contained in the air), is converted into water, and is then discharged to the outside of the vehicle. In order to cause this reaction of the hydrogen gas, the reaction section 25 is provided with a catalyst 26, and a fan 28 that blows the air to the catalyst 26. The catalyst 26 triggers the reaction that produces water from hydrogen and oxygen (hereinafter referred to as a “water production reaction”), and an example of the catalyst 26 is copper. When the first safety valve 20 is opened, the fan 28 rotates according to an instruction of the controller 54 and delivers the air to the catalyst 26. Although not illustrated in
Water that is produced in the reaction section 25 is discharged to the outside of the vehicle through the first channel 24. The first channel 24 may be a dedicated channel that is independent of the other channels up to a downstream end thereof, or an intermediate portion of the first channel 24 may be merged with another drainage channel. For example, since the hydrogen engine or the fuel cell outputs water in association with the operation thereof, the vehicle mounted with the hydrogen engine or the fuel cell includes the drainage channel, through which water from the hydrogen engine or the fuel cell is discharged. On a downstream side of the reaction section 25, the first channel 24 may be merged with this drainage channel.
The second port 32 is a port that communicates with the second channel 34 (see
The second safety valve 30 may be an electrically operated valve that is opened/closed when receiving an electrical signal, or may be a mechanical valve that is opened by mechanical deformation caused by application of a specified magnitude of the pressure or higher. However, as will be described below, when the second safety valve 30 is opened, the controller 54 actuates an alarm 52. Accordingly, when the second safety valve 30 is the mechanical valve, a sensor is provided to detect an open/closed state of the second safety valve 30. As an example of such a sensor, the hydrogen sensor can be used. The hydrogen sensor detects the concentration of the hydrogen gas on a downstream side of the second safety valve 30.
When the second safety valve 30 is opened, the second channel 34 directs the hydrogen gas to an upper portion or a rear portion of the vehicle 100 via a route that avoids a high-temperature area in the vehicle, and discharges the hydrogen gas in a gaseous state as is to the outside of the vehicle. For example, the high-temperature area is an area around the hydrogen engine. Accordingly, for example, the second channel 34 extends from the hydrogen tank 12 in a direction opposite the hydrogen engine. In the case where the hydrogen gas is discharged from the upper portion of the vehicle 100, the second channel 34 may reach a roof. In this case, the second channel 34 may extend through the inside of a pillar.
The third port 42 is a port that communicates with the third channel 44 (see
The third reference value P3 is a value that is higher than the second open reference value Po2 and is lower than the maximum allowable pressure Pmax of the hydrogen tank 12. For example, the third reference value P3 is a value that is about 1.3 to 2 times the first open reference value Po 1 or 0.4 to 0.6 times the maximum allowable pressure Pmax of the hydrogen tank 12.
When the closure member 40 is destroyed, the third channel 44 directs the hydrogen gas to the upper portion or the rear portion of the vehicle 100 via the route that avoids the high-temperature area in the vehicle, and discharges the hydrogen gas in the gaseous state as is to the outside of the vehicle. Such a third channel 44 may be a channel that is completely separated from the second channel 34, or may be a channel whose intermediate portion is merged with the second channel 34. In the case where the third channel 44 is merged with the second channel 34, a merged point is located on the downstream side of the second safety valve 30 and on a downstream side of the closure member 40. In addition, similar to the second channel 34, the third channel 44 may extend from the hydrogen tank 12 in the direction opposite the hydrogen engine. The third channel 44 may reach the roof or extend through the inside of the pillar.
The alarm 52 outputs a warning when the second safety valve 30 is opened, so as to urge an occupant to evacuate the vehicle. Such an alarm 52 outputs at least one of sound and light and includes at least one of a speaker, a buzzer, a lamp, and a display, for example.
The controller 54 controls driving of the above-described pump motor 18, the safety valves 20, 30, and the alarm 52. Such a controller 54 is physically a computer that has a processor 56 and memory 58. In
The controller 54 drives the pump motor 18 to supply a required amount of hydrogen to the hydrogen engine side in accordance with a request from a higher-level vehicle controller. The controller 54 also monitors the detection value by the pressure sensor that is, the internal tank pressure Pt. Then, the controller 54 controls opening/closing of the first safety valve 20 and the second safety valve 30 according to the internal tank pressure Pt. Furthermore, when opening the second safety valve 30, the controller 54 operates the alarm 52 to notify the occupant of the vehicle 100 of the warning. The output of this warning continues until the second safety valve 30 is closed. Then, the warning is stopped once the second safety valve 30 is closed.
Next, a description will be made on management of the internal tank pressure Pt in this liquid hydrogen storage system 10.
The controller 54 compares the internal tank pressure Pt, which is detected by the pressure sensor 50, with the first open reference value Po1 (S10). If a comparison result indicates Pt≤Po1 (No in S10), the controller 54 maintains the first safety valve 20 in a closed state.
On the other hand, if Pt>Po1 (Yes in S10), the controller 54 opens the first safety valve 20 (S12). By opening the first safety valve 20, the hydrogen gas that is accumulated in the hydrogen tank 12 is discharged to the outside of the hydrogen tank 12 through the first safety valve 20. As a result, the internal tank pressure Pt is reduced. In addition, in the case where the first safety valve 20 is opened, the controller 54 drives the fan 28 in the reaction section 25 to deliver the air to the catalyst 26 (S12). The oxygen gas contained in the air and the hydrogen gas discharged from the hydrogen tank 12 are subjected to a chemical reaction, which converts the hydrogen gas into water. Water produced in the water production reaction in the reaction section 25 is discharged to the outside of the vehicle from the downstream end of the first channel 24. In other words, according to this embodiment, the boil-off gas that is produced in the hydrogen tank 12 has a stable molecular structure (that is, as water molecules) that is safe and has no environmental impact, and is discharged to the outside of the vehicle.
After opening the first safety valve 20, the controller 54 compares the internal tank pressure Pt with the first close reference value Pct (S14). If a comparison result indicates Pt≤Pc1 (Yes in S14), the controller 54 closes the first safety valve 20 and stops driving the reaction section 25 (S16).
If Pt>Pc1 in step S14, the controller 54 further compares the internal tank pressure Pt with the second open reference value Po2 (S18). If a comparison result indicates Pt≤Po2 (No in S18), the controller 54 returns to step S14.
On the other hand, if Pt>Po2 (Yes in S18), the controller 54 further opens the second safety valve 30 (S20). In addition to the first safety valve 20, the second safety valve is also opened. In this way, a larger amount of the hydrogen gas is discharged from the hydrogen tank 12. As a result, it is possible to further reliably prevent the internal tank pressure Pt from exceeding the maximum allowable pressure Pmax of the hydrogen tank 12. In addition, when opening the second safety valve 30, the controller 54 further operates the alarm 52 and notifies the occupant of the warning, so as to urge the occupant to evacuate the vehicle 100 (S20). The occupant is urged to evacuate, just as described. Accordingly, the occupant evacuates the vehicle 100 in response to this warning, and thus safety of the occupant can further reliably be ensured. When the second safety valve 30 is opened, the hydrogen gas is discharged to the outside of the vehicle through the second channel 34. At this time, since the second channel 34 takes the route that avoids the high-temperature area in the vehicle, it is possible to safely discharge the hydrogen gas to the outside of the vehicle.
Thereafter, the controller 54 compares the internal tank pressure Pt with the second close reference value Pc2 (S22). If a comparison result indicates Pt≤Pc2 (Yes in S22), the controller 54 closes the second safety valve 30 and stops the alarm 52 (S24). Thereafter, the controller 54 returns to step S14.
On the other hand, it is assumed that the internal tank pressure Pt continues to be increased even after opening of the second safety valve 30 and exceeds the third reference value P3 (Yes in S26). In this case, the closure member 40 is destroyed (S28). Consequently, the hydrogen gas in the hydrogen tank 12 flows not only into the first channel 24 and the second channel 34 but also into the third channel 44. As a result, the increase in the internal tank pressure Pt is effectively suppressed. Here, since the destruction of the closure member 40 is an irreversible change, use of the liquid hydrogen storage system and boarding of a person in the vehicle 100 become prohibited at a time point at which the closure member 40 is destroyed.
As described above, by virtue of provision of the closure member 40 that is mechanically and automatically destroyed when the internal tank pressure Pt reaches the predetermined third reference value P3, even in the case where electrical failure occurs, for example, even in the case where the pressure sensor 50 fails, the hydrogen gas can reliably be discharged to the outside of the hydrogen tank 12 at the time when the internal tank pressure Pt becomes excessively high. As a result, the safety of the occupant can further reliably be ensured.
Here, in the example illustrated in
As it is apparent from the description so far, according to this embodiment, the boil-off gas, which is produced in the hydrogen tank 12, is converted into water and is then discharged to the outside of the vehicle. With such a configuration, it is possible to prevent the internal tank pressure Pt from becoming excessively high and it is also possible to safely discharge the boil-off gas to the outside of the vehicle. The configuration that has been described so far is merely one example. So long as the configuration includes the first channel 24, which communicates between the hydrogen tank 12 and the outside of the vehicle, the first safety valve 20, which is opened when the internal tank pressure Pt becomes equal to or higher than the first open reference value Pot, and the reaction section 25, which converts the hydrogen gas discharged from the first safety valve 20 into water, the remainder of the configuration may be modified. Thus, for example, it may be the case that the second safety valve 30 and the second channel 34 are not provided. Similarly, it may be the case that the closure member 40 and the third channel 44 are not provided.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2022-107581 | Jul 2022 | JP | national |