Contact person
Robin Olsson
Senior forskare
Contact Robin
Tanks for liquid hydrogen
The project "LH2-Tanks" aimed at developing lightweight composite tanks for liquid hydrogen for future fossil free aircraft. The challenge is the extremely low temperatures and the large deformations and stresses they cause. The project included material testing, model development, design and manufacture of the tanks.
Hydrogen is a promising fuel for fossil free aviation, but must be stored in liquid form at extremely low temperature to give tanks with sufficiently low weight and temperature. The aim is to develop the technology for such tanks for the European aircraft industry.
The low temperature (-253°C) causes large thermal stresses and deformations in the material, which must be considered in the design. The change in material properties at low temperatures must also be measured. The project involved material testing, design, manufacture, and testing of two demonstrator tanks.
Composite materials with carbon fibre reinforced plastics allow lightweight tanks suited for aviation. Very thin composite plies manufactured by the Swedish company Oxeon are required to prevent that the thermal stresses cause cracking. Furthermore, the fibres have to be oriented appropriately.
Overview of the project and previous related projects.
Overview of the project and previous related projects (pdf, 346.06 KB)
Summary
Project name
LH2-Tanks
Status
Completed
RISE role in project
Coordinator
Project start
Duration
24 months
Total budget
9.6 MSEK
Partner
Oxeon AB manufactures the material TeXtreme which was used in the tanks, Chalmers studies hydrogen diffusion through the tank walls and performs design studies, Linköping University performs fatigue studies of the tank material, KonveGas AB studies possibilities for future commercial production of gas tanks
Funders
The Swedish Energy Agency provided the main funding for the project within the programme "Fossil free aviation 2045", Oxeon AB was co-funding the project via own work and material
Coordinators
Project members
Robin Olsson Erik Marklund Jocke Pettersson Runar Långström Henrik Dykhoff Dimitra Ramantani
Supports the UN sustainability goals
7. Affordable and clean energy
13. Climate action
