Design And Analysis Of Liquid Hydrogen Storage Tank

Abstract

Hydrogen is the lightest molecule in the universe and it is a great medium to store and transport renewable energy. It finds applications in various disciplines from fertilizer production to space explorations. Nowadays tremendous efforts are made towards the utilization of hydrogen as fuel in commercial vehicles like cars, buses, etc. due to its zero greenhouse gas emission, it leaves no carbon footprint. Besides its advantages, there are also challenges to store hydrogen gas as a liquid-like boil-off, safety, liquefaction, leakage. Hydrogen gas liquefied at a temperature around –252.8°C so it has to be stored in vacuum jacketed cryogenic storage tank. Vacuum jacketed stationary cryogenic storage contains inner vessel, which enclosed within the outer jacket, for storage of the liquid hydrogen. Around inner vessel wrapping of multi-layer super insulation is provided to minimize the radiation heat transfer. The inner vessel is held in the outer jacket, with the help of the inner vessel holding system, and the annular space between them is evacuated. The project covers the mechanical design of the inner vessel as per ASME code at cryogenic hydrogen temperature along with loading condition specified by the CGA code, design of outer jacket under external pressure for critical collapsing pressure specified by the CGA code. Also, the design of the support leg and base plate is carried out with consideration of wind and seismic loads, which are obtained from the UBC code. Further discontinuity stresses generated at the head-shell junction of the inner vessel is determined. Design and optimization of support for applied loading condition are performed. Calculation of net evaporation rate of the storage tank and safety valve sizing for an inner vessel is performed.