FEBRUARY 2015
26 CompositesWorld
WORK IN PROGRESS
exceed current performance requirements
as long as the liner's nominal wall is ≥5
mm. Post-report work — a recycling study,
additional liner molding trials and prelimi-
nary overwrap winding trials — has yielded
data that will be used by the HOST team to
fnalize a winding path for the UD tapes.
Next, research will focus on producing a
monolithic vessel by consolidating the
liner and overwrap. Other planned projects
include modifcation of the flament-
winding head and development of a
drop-in/turnkey robotic manufacturing cell
that would enable hybrid vessel manufac-
turers to adopt DuraStor technology. HOST
will follow that with a real-world demon-
stration project on H
2
-powered FCVs to
validate both material and process technol-
ogies and build a fully capable supply chain.
"Many organizations at the forefront of
the hydrogen economy are small innova-
tors with limited budgets," adds Turner.
"Tat's why our robotic manufacturing cell
will need to be designed to be adaptable for
bespoke and prototype components. We
feel confdent that it will enable faster devel-
opment of the hydrogen economy."
Rotomolded Liner
The DuraStor team designed a
rotomolded acetal liner (four
liners are pictured, each with
gas ingress/egress hardware
mounted at the bottom of the
vessel) that is compatible with
the overwound acetal/carbon
fber tape.
Source | DuraStor Consortium
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Contributing writer Peggy
Malnati covers the automotive and
infrastructure beats for CW and
provides communications services
for plastics- and composites-
industry clients. peggy@compositesworld.com
Read this article online |
short.compositesworld.com/PVsforFCVs
A list of DuraStor/HOST consortium
participants can be found online |
short.compositesworld.com/DS-HOST
For a thorough rundown on automaker
efforts to build more fuel-efficient,
emissions-compliant vehicles, see
"Automotive CFRP: The shape of things
to come" |
short.compositesworld.com/8MhEyKb3
Read more about tank types, their uses and
the markets they serve online in "Pressure
vessels for alternative fuels, 2014-2023" |
short.compositesworld.com/PVOutlook