Gaseous fuel storage system for vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12347909-B2
Application number	US-202217959404-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2022
Priority date	Oct 8, 2021
Publication date	Jul 1, 2025
Grant date	Jul 1, 2025

Abstract

A storage system for reversibly storing and releasing a gas such as hydrogen includes storage elements each having a storage volume with a storage material such as a metal-organic framework (MOF) for reversibly adsorbing or physiosorbing the gas, a gastight housing surrounding the storage volume and having a gas inlet/outlet which is in fluid-conducting communication with the storage volume, and at least one non-fluid activating element or activating layer configured to, when in an activation state, release the gas stored in the MOF and/or increases the rate of release relative to an unactivated state. The activating element or layer may surround and/or penetrate the storage material. The activating element may be controlled by an associated control to enter the activation state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A storage system for reversibly storing and releasing a gas, the storage system including a plurality of storage elements, each storage element comprising:
a storage volume with a storage material for reversibly storing the gas;
a gastight housing surrounding the storage volume and including a gas inlet/outlet which is in fluid communication with the storage volume;
at least one non-fluid activating element configured such that, when in an activation state, the storage element releases the stored gas to an increased extent in relation to an unactivated state, wherein the activating element surrounds or penetrates the storage material.

2. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the activating element comprises an activating layer that surrounds the storage material.

3. The storage system according to claim 1 wherein the activating element is disposed within the housing.

4. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the storage material is a metal-organic framework (MOF) material configured to chemisorb and/or physisorb the gas.

5. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the storage material stores the gas at least partly in atomically or molecularly fragmented form.

6. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the gas is hydrogen and wherein the storage material stores the hydrogen at least partly in atomic form.

7. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the activating element is configured such that on activation thereof the activating element releases the gas stored in the storage material from the storage material, said gas being present in combination with atomically or molecularly fragmented molecules of said gas in the storage element.

8. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the activating element includes activating material selected from at least one of:
a) a catalyst that catalyzes recombination of atomically or molecularly fragmented gas to form gas molecules;
b) a material which on activation emits electromagnetic radiation, where the emitted electromagnetic radiation has a wavelength which brings about desorption of the gas from the storage material and/or recombination of gas fragments to form gas molecules; and
c) a material which on activation emits sound waves, where the sound waves have a wavelength which brings about desorption of the gas from the storage material and/or recombination of gas fragments to form gas molecules.

9. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein each activating element is in communication with a controller, where the controller activates or deactivates the activating element in response to demand for the stored gas.

10. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein each storage element has a valve coupled to the gas inlet/outlet.

11. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the gastight housing comprises a pressure-stable housing composed of a first material, and a gastight membrane provided inside the gastight housing, the gastight membrane composed of a second material.

12. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of storage elements include respective gas inlets/outlets in communication with one another.

13. The storage system according to claim 12 , wherein the gas inlets/outlets are connected to a gas distribution system having a multiplicity of line sections configured as a tree structure and are in fluid communication with one another.

14. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein gas pressure in the system on storage and/or release of the gas is less than 20 bar.

15. The storage system according to claim 1 , wherein the storage system is configured for storage of 500 grams of hydrogen.

16. The storage system of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of storage elements is configured to store 10 grams of hydrogen gas.

17. A storage system for reversibly storing and releasing hydrogen gas, comprising:
a plurality of storage elements each having a storage volume with a metal-organic framework (MOF) storage material for adsorbing or physiosorbing the hydrogen gas within a gastight housing surrounding the storage volume and having a gas inlet/outlet which is in fluid-conducting communication with the storage volume; and
a nonfluid activating material contained within the gastight housing and having an activated state that releases the hydrogen gas stored in the storage material.

18. The system according to claim 17 wherein the nonfluid activating material comprises an activating layer surrounding the storage material.

19. A motor vehicle comprising the storage system according to claim 18 .

20. The motor vehicle according to claim 19 , wherein at least two of the plurality of storage elements are disposed in different cavities of the vehicle.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Stadtler Arnold
• Schmierer Ralf
• Gerhorst Frank P
• Giefer Kathrin Lena Maria
• Ro Seonhi
• Leiteritz Christian

Classifications

• H01M8/04104

  Regulation of differential pressures · CPC title

• B01J20/226 Primary

  Coordination polymers, e.g. metal-organic frameworks [MOF], zeolitic imidazolate frameworks [ZIF] (preparation of metal complexes containing carboxylic acid moieties C07C51/418; MOF's per se C07F) · CPC title

• H01M8/22 Primary

  Fuel cells in which the fuel is based on materials comprising carbon or oxygen or hydrogen and other elements; Fuel cells in which the fuel is based on materials comprising only elements other than carbon, oxygen or hydrogen · CPC title

• Y02E60/32

  Hydrogen storage · CPC title