Improved handling of liquid hydrogen at filling stations: Review of six years' experience

Within the industrial-scale solar hydrogen demonstration facility operated by SWB at Neunburg vorm Wald in Germany, a liquid hydrogen (LH2) filling station has been installed for optimization of the LH2 transfer process to various vehicle fuel tank systems. New types of vehicle tanks and coupling systems for LH2 filling lines were realized and tested. Designed for positive self-closing, these coupling systems can be disconnected while containing LH2. With these coupling systems and vehicle tanks, time needed to refuel LH2 vehicles is reduced from more than Ih to less than 3 min, and hydrodynamic losses of liquefaction energy are reduced from approximately 50% of the transferred LH2 to 0%. An optimized concept for an advanced LH2 filling station and a vehicle LH2 tank are described. (C) 1998 International Association for Hydrogen Energy.