Patent Application
20190120435
The disclosure relates to a pressure tank arrangement for storing and discharging compressed fluidic fuels. Pressure tank arrangements comprising a pressure vessel which defines an inner space in which the fuel can be stored, wherein the longitudinal dimension of the pressure vessel is greater than its transverse dimension, a preferably elongated central portion and at least one end cap adjacent to the center portion, wherein the end cap tapers toward an end region, and comprising a preferably braided and/or wrapped reinforcing layer that envelops the central portion and the end cap of the pressure vessel, wherein the reinforcing layer comprises at least two superposed fiber-reinforced individual layers, and comprising at least one force application element which comprises a connecting portion and an anchoring portion, are known from the prior art. The force application elements are in this case connected to the valve of the pressure tank arrangement, via which the fluidic fuel (e.g. hydrogen, or liquid gas) can be discharged. In this context, one speaks of a so-called “neck-mounting”.
This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
The disadvantage of such a pressure tank arrangement is that the construction length of the pressure tank is extended by the dimension of the force application element. When installing a pressure tank arrangement of the prior art in a predefined installation space (for example in a motor vehicle) the pressure tank has to be shortened correspondingly, whereby its storage capacity is reduced.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure, and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
Thus, it is an object of the disclosure to provide a pressure tank arrangement comprising the features as indicated above, which compared to the prior art has a larger storage capacity.
This object is achieved according to the disclosure in that the anchoring portion is disposed between the reinforcing layer and the pressure vessel and/or between the individual layers of the reinforcing layer, and the connecting portion penetrates the reinforcing layer and is accessible from the outside of the reinforcing layer, wherein the connecting portion protrudes into the space which is enclosed by a shell surface which is obtained by an imaginary extrusion of the outer boundary line of the largest cross-sectional area of the reinforced central portion in a direction parallel to a centroidal line which is formed from the centroids of all cross-sectional areas of the pressure vessel, by a surface intersecting the end region and extending perpendicular to the centroidal line, as well as by the surface of the reinforcing layer.
The pressure tank arrangement according to the disclosure advantageously utilizes the dead space which is obtained by the cross-sectional reduction of the pressure vessel in the region of the end cap or end caps. As a result, the installation space in which the pressure tank arrangement is received in its intended use can be utilized much better and, thus, the storage volume of the pressure tank can be increased compared to conventional pressure tank arrangements.
Here, the connecting portion is preferably braided or wrapped by the fibers of the fiber-reinforced individual layers, so that the connecting portion penetrates the reinforcing layer and is or remains accessible from the outside of the reinforcing layer, wherein the anchoring portion is overbraided and/or overwrapped by at least one single layer.
Preferably, the anchoring portion is disposed between the individual layers of the last third, preferably the last quarter, particularly preferably the last sixth of all individual layers of the reinforcement layer, starting from the pressure vessel.
Preferably at least two, particularly preferably at least four force application elements are provided for the or each end cap. Advantageously, the force application elements are disposed along an imaginary circle of holes. Herein, the force application elements can have equal distances with respect to one another and/or enclose equal angles with respect to each other. For example, four force application elements can be provided, which are arranged in a uniform spacing and under an angle of 90° with respect to each other along a common circle of holes. The anchoring portion or the anchoring portions may be fixed in position on the pressure vessel or on a single layer of the reinforcing layer by means of an adhesive layer and/or by means of a fixing means.
The force application element preferably includes an external thread or an internal thread, more preferably a metric external thread or a metric internal thread. The force application element is preferably made of a stainless steel material or of an aluminum material or of a magnesium material or of a titanium material.
The force application element may be provided with a corrosion protection layer.
The anchoring portion may have a plate-like or disk-like shape.
The anchoring portion may have a shape corresponding to the adjacent outer geometry of the pressure vessel.
The reinforcing layer may comprise a thermoplastic resin and/or a thermosetting resin to stabilize the fibers of the fiber-reinforced individual layers.
The disclosure further relates to a method for producing a pressure tank arrangement described above for storing and discharging compressed fluidic fuels, comprising:
The anchoring portion can be overbraided and/or overwrapped by at least one single layer, wherein at the same time the connecting portion is braided and/or wrapped, so that the connecting portion penetrates the reinforcing layer and is accessible or remains accessible from the outside of the reinforcing layer.
The connecting portion may for this purpose comprise a tapered geometry which is integrally formed with or detachably connected to the connecting portion, in particular a conical, a cone-shaped or a pyramidal tip, so that the fibers of the fiber-reinforced individual layers are deflected around the connecting portion during the braiding and/or wrapping of the anchoring portion. As a result, the connecting portion is not overbraided or overwrapped.
The reinforcing layer can pressure infiltrated with a thermoplastic resin and/or a thermosetting resin. Particularly preferably, the force application element or the force application elements can be positioned relative to each other during the pressure infiltration process by means of a positioning device connected to, preferably releasably connected to the connecting portion or the connecting portions.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. The description and specific examples in this summary are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
The drawings described herein are for illustrative purposes only of selected embodiments and not all possible implementations, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
In the following the disclosure will be explained with reference to the drawings which merely show exemplary embodiments. The drawings schematically show:
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the figures, identical or functionally identical elements are provided with the same reference numerals.
The foregoing description of the embodiments has been provided for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure. Individual elements or features of a particular embodiment are generally not limited to that particular embodiment, but, where applicable, are interchangeable and can be used in a selected embodiment, even if not specifically shown or described. The same may also be varied in many ways. Such variations are to be regarded as a departure from the disclosure, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 2015 005 025.5 | Jul 2015 | DE | national |
This application is a National Stage of International Application No. PCT/EP2016/001188, filed on Jul. 11, 2016, and published in German as WO2017/008899 A1 on Jan. 19, 2017. This application claims the priority to German Patent Application No. 20 2015 005 025.5, filed on Jul. 10, 2015. The entire disclosures of the above applications are incorporated herein by reference.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2016/001188 | 7/11/2016 | WO | 00 |
