Hydrogen storage

MacroSpheres – a quite unique way to store hydrogen.

A patented innovation by Professor Lars Stenmark.

We at Fladjemark Sports see the hydrogen gas as a fantastic fuel to fill our race cars with. With the technology presented here is a 24 hours race at Le Mans a reality. At the same time as we are competing on the race track, we simply show how the system can function in everyday traffic. In this manner is our ambition to create a demonstrationsystem for Professor Lars Stenmark.

During the examinationwork 2009 at Halmstad University with two energy engineers (more about this under motorsport historic) we came in contact with Lars Stenmark, professor in micro- and nanotechnology for space applications.  Lars Stenmark has a unique innovation, which makes hydrogen gas a realistic fuel through the method of storage for everyday use in small spheres. 

For a long time it has been a challenge to come up with a way to take hydrogen vehicles longer distances. This is no longer a problem with Lars Stenmarks system, the MacroSpheres. Another challenge for the hydrogen advocates has been safety and security. With the MacroSpheres the level of safety and security is much higher than the demands of safety and security on the liquid fuels of today.

 
The solution is to have a large number of small round tanks, every sphere has the size of a ping-pong ball. The sphere is built with two mantles. An inner mantle that the gas cannot penetrate and an outer mantle in composite material to handle the pressure. Composite material has another good quality, apart from its incredible strength, it is very light. Inside each of these relatively small tanks is the uniqueness of this system to be found: A micromechanical chip! The chip is without any connections for the in- and outgoing stream of hydrogen gas. There are also no electrical components in the chip, it is completely mechanical. The chip contains a number of valves, regulators and filters, made in micro- and nanotechnology, which makes emptying and filling possible.

The Macrospheres in use

Imagine the following scenario:
The spheres are empty, and it is the same pressure inside the spheres as it is outside of them. You poor them into a closed chamber where you can control the pressure. You open a tap to let hydrogen into the chamber and raise the pressure to over 700 bar. The chip in the spheres recognize the rising pressure and opens therefore a valve which lets the hydrogen gas into the spheres. The spheres will let in gas until the pressure inside is the same as the pressure outside, in the pressure chamber.

Next you lower the pressure in the chamber and the microchips, in the spheres, react by closing the valves. When the chamber has atmospheric pressure the spheres can be taken out of the chamber, and handled freely. Now the spheres can be distributed to wherever they are needed, for example a filling station for hydrogen cars. At the filling station the spheres end up in a larger tank with atmospheric pressure, which is connected to a filling-device.

The vehicle has a pipe built in as a part of the chassis, for example the floor or as a part of the body. In that way it does not take extra space. When the hydrogen car comes to the filling station, the pipe in the car is filled with almost empty spheres. A connection between the filling-device nozzles and the cars pipe is made. A compressor is started, and it creates a vacuum on the side where the empty spheres are, pulling them out of the car. At the same time the new full spheres are being pushed in on the other side from the pressure of the compressor. The new spheres fills the pipe until the first of the new reaches the opening for outgoing spheres. That is the point when the car is filled up. When the pipe opening for the outgoing spheres is closed the compressor goes on pumping so that a slight overload is created inside the pipe. When this happens the opening for the ingoing spheres also closes, and an overload with about 1-2 bar is now in the cars pipe. In the end the device from the filling station is disconnected.

How does the hydrogen come out from the spheres?

Well, the slight overload inside the pipe in the car makes the valves in the microchips react. The spheres starts leaking out hydrogen to an in advance set pressure, let us say 8 bar (that is about the pressure inside a truck tire).  At that point the spheres will close themselves again.

During the ride with the hydrogen car the vehicle takes its fuel from the pipe, and the pressure inside the pipe sinks. The microchips in the spheres senses the drop of pressure and starts letting out/leaking hydrogen once again. If the engine is stopped, the pressure inside the pipe rises to the point where the spheres closes.

And if there is an accident?
If the pipe is being damaged and the spheres fall out of the car they will react the same way as the last time they were outside the car. That is; closing their valves. The only gas leaking out is the one that was still in the pipe of the car. And since hydrogen is very light it goes straight up in the air. It does not stay around the car, like fumes from petrol.

What happens if a sphere is damaged?
A sphere has an outer mantle, a weave, in composite material. It does not crack like, for instance, a steel vessel. What will happen is that the sphere will delaminate. The sphere will look like a ball of yarn and the gas will slowly run out. In a collision a small leak of gas, or none at all, is to expect.

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