Vehicle with natural gas storage array

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9878611-B1
Application number	US-201615223922-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 29, 2016
Priority date	Jul 29, 2016
Publication date	Jan 30, 2018
Grant date	Jan 30, 2018

Abstract

A vehicle includes a vehicle platform and a natural gas fueled engine attached to the vehicle platform. The engine provides tractive power to at least one drive wheel. The vehicle includes an enclosure, attachable to the vehicle platform, to contain an array of natural gas storage vessels. The array of natural gas storage vessels is disposed completely within the enclosure. Each storage vessel of the array of natural gas storage vessels is in fluid communication with a single outlet port for selectively extracting the natural gas from the array of natural gas storage vessels. Each storage vessel of the array of natural gas storage vessels is in fluid communication with a single natural gas fill port.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle platform defining a T-shaped platform cavity having a fore-aft portion and a transverse portion intersecting the fore-aft portion, wherein the T-shaped platform cavity is open on a road-facing side of the vehicle platform;
a natural gas fueled engine attached to the vehicle platform, the engine to provide tractive power to at least one drive wheel; and
an enclosure, attachable to the vehicle platform, to contain an array of natural gas storage vessels, wherein:
the enclosure is T-shaped to nest in the T-shaped platform cavity of the vehicle platform;
the array of natural gas storage vessels is disposed completely within the enclosure;
each natural gas storage vessel of the array of natural gas storage vessels is in fluid communication with a single outlet port for selectively extracting the natural gas from the array of natural gas storage vessels; and
each natural gas storage vessel of the array of natural gas storage vessels is in fluid communication with a single natural gas fill port.

2. The vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the enclosure shields the array of natural gas storage vessels from ultraviolet light.

3. The vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the enclosure shields the array of natural gas storage vessels from moisture.

4. The vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the enclosure is a housing to contain an electrical battery in place of the array of natural gas storage vessels.

5. The vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein each natural gas storage vessel in the array of natural gas storage vessels is a cylindrical vessel having an aspect ratio greater than 10.

6. The vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein:
each natural gas storage vessel in the array of natural gas storage vessels is a cylindrical vessel having an aspect ratio greater than 10;
each natural gas storage vessel in the array of natural gas storage vessels has a cylindrical axis;
the cylindrical axes of the natural gas storage vessels in a fore-aft subset of the array of natural gas storage vessels are parallel to a fore-aft axis of the vehicle; and
the cylindrical axes of the natural gas storage vessels in a transverse subset of the array of natural gas storage vessels are parallel to a transverse axis of the vehicle and perpendicular to the fore-aft axis of the vehicle.

7. The vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein each natural gas storage vessel in the array of natural gas storage vessels is a truncated octahedron.

8. The vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the array of natural gas storage vessels includes a plurality of Type 4 gas cylinders.

9. The vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein a natural gas adsorbent is disposed in at least one of the natural gas storage vessels in the array of natural gas storage vessels.

10. The vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the enclosure is a secondary containment vessel for natural gas.

11. The vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the vehicle platform includes stamped sheet metal and the enclosure includes a conductive material to equalize an electrical potential between the enclosure and the vehicle platform.

12. The vehicle as defined in claim 11 wherein the conductive material is a metallic layer defined on a wall of the enclosure.

13. The vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein the enclosure includes a fluid cooling circuit.

14. The vehicle as defined in claim 1 wherein:
the enclosure has an enclosure body;
the enclosure body defines a T-shaped enclosure body cavity;
the enclosure has an enclosure floor, removably and sealingly attachable to the enclosure body;
the enclosure body and the enclosure floor define a fore-aft compartment having a fore-aft subset of the array of natural gas storage vessels disposed therein;
the enclosure body and the enclosure floor define a transverse compartment having a transverse subset of the array of natural gas storage vessels disposed therein; and
the fore-aft compartment intersects the transverse compartment.

15. A method of manufacturing a plurality of energy storage containers for a fleet of vehicles, comprising:
fabricating a plurality of T-shaped enclosures, wherein each enclosure has a fore-aft portion and a transverse portion intersecting the fore-aft portion, each enclosure is for an instance of the energy storage containers and each enclosure is identical to every other enclosure within manufacturing tolerances;
determining if an instance of the energy storage container is an electrical energy storage container or natural gas storage container;
if the instance of the energy storage container is the electrical energy storage container, installing electrical storage batteries in the enclosure of the instance of the energy storage container;
if the instance of the energy storage container is the natural gas storage container, installing an array of natural gas storage vessels in the enclosure of the instance of the energy storage container;
attaching a floor on the instance of the energy storage container; and
installing the instance of the energy storage container in a T-shaped platform cavity of a vehicle member of the fleet of vehicles, the T-shaped platform cavity having a fore-aft portion and a transverse portion intersecting the fore-aft portion.

16. A vehicle, comprising:
a natural gas storage container, including:
a T-shaped enclosure body having a T-shaped enclosure body cavity, the enclosure body removably and sealingly attached to a T-shaped platform cavity of the vehicle, wherein the T-shaped platform cavity has a fore-aft portion and a transverse portion intersecting the fore-aft portion;
an array of natural gas storage vessels disposed within the enclosure body cavity; and
the array of natural gas storage vessels having at least one Type 4 gas cylinder, wherein the enclosure body occludes a substantial amount of ultraviolet light and moisture from coming into contact with the array of natural gas storage vessels.

17. The vehicle as defined in claim 16 wherein the enclosure body is embedded into a chassis of the vehicle.

18. A vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle platform includes stamped sheet metal;
a natural gas fueled engine attached to the vehicle platform, the engine to provide tractive power to at least one drive wheel; and
an enclosure, attachable to the vehicle platform, to contain an array of natural gas storage vessels, wherein:
the enclosure includes a conductive material to equalize an electrical potential between the enclosure and the vehicle platform;
the array of natural gas storage vessels is disposed completely within the enclosure;
each natural gas storage vessel of the array of natural gas storage vessels is in fluid communication with a single outlet port for selectively extracting the natural gas from the array of natural gas storage vessels; and
each natural gas storage vessel of the array of natural gas storage vessels is in fluid communication with a single natural gas fill port.

19. The vehicle as defined in claim 18 wherein the conductive material is a metallic layer defined on a wall of the enclosure.

20. The vehicle as defined in claim 18 wherein:
the vehicle platform defines a T-shaped platform cavity having a fore-aft portion and a transverse portion intersecting the fore-aft portion;
the T-shaped platform cavity is open on a road-facing side of the vehicle platform;
the enclosure is T-shaped to nest in the T-shaped platform cavity;
each natural gas storage vessel in the array of natural gas s

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Abd Elhamid Mahmoud H
• Dailly Anne M
• Cai Mei

Classifications

• B60Y2410/10

  Housings · CPC title

• B60K2015/03019

  Filling of gas tanks · CPC title

• F17C2201/056

  Small (<1 m3) · CPC title

• F02B43/10

  Engines or plants characterised by use of other specific gases, e.g. acetylene, oxyhydrogen · CPC title

• F17C2201/035

  with substantially horizontal main axis · CPC title