Fast refueling of Volvo hydrogen trucks

Abstract

Volvo is currently investigating fuel cell electric vehicles and using hydrogen as fuel. The fuel cell trucks carry high pressure hydrogen storage systems with carbon fiber reinforced polymer tanks. Fueling of hydrogen in a fast and safe manner is a topic under investigation. The aim for Volvo is to perform a fueling process in less than 10 minutes using new or existing protocols, staying within tank design limits when it comes to end pressure and temperature in the tank. In this report, Volvo’s prototype truck, A1, was studied during refueling in a simulation environment using the software H2FillS. Parameters, such as ambient temperature, pre-cooling and gas temperature were varied. H2FillS results were compared to a field test and another modeling software, GT-Suite, with the same input conditions. The results unveiled that ambient temperature has a minor influence on the gas end temperature in the tanks after refueling is done, whereas the initial gas temperature within the tanks has a major influence. Most impact has pre-cooling temperature of the hydrogen before it is dispensed into the vehicle, and a temperature of at least -20 °C is essential for refueling to be performed within the time goal. Finally, different protocols were applied, and it was shown that fueling in 10 minutes can be done under most conditions.