Numerical Simulation of Fast Filling of a Hydrogen Tank

High pressure gas is a widely used storage mode for hydrogen fuel. A typical hydrogen tank that is charged with hydrogen gas can function as a hydrogen supply source in a large number of applications. The filling process of a high-pressure hydrogen tank should be reasonably short. However, when the fill time is short, the maximum temperature in the tank increases. Therefore the process should be designed in such a way to avoid high temperatures in the tank because of safety reasons. The paper simulates the fast filling process of hydrogen tanks using Computational Fluid Dynamics method. The local temperature distribution in the tank is obtained. Results obtained are compared with available experimental data. Further work is going on to improve the accuracy of the calculations.