In this tech talk, Steven had the pleasure of discussing Hydrogen Cooling and Hydrogen Refueling with Florian Lechner, Head of Sales at KUSTEC.
Learn about Hydrogen Cooling and Hydrogen Refueling
Steven Oji and Florian Lechner with expertise in hydrogen cooling, explained the necessity and process of cooling hydrogen at filling stations. Florian discussed how heat exchangers are used for cooling, either directly or indirectly, and described the detailed refrigeration process. This Hyfindr Tech Talk touched also on the temperature and pressure requirements for this process and shared future prospects, suggesting that the industry may shift to natural refrigerants like CO2.
Florian explained hydrogen cooling for HRS as the process of reducing the temperature of hot gaseous hydrogen to a lower level. This process becomes crucial at hydrogen filling stations, where cooling units are installed. He detailed how a heat exchanger situated beside or inside the dispenser assists in the cooling process. When refueling, hydrogen flows from high pressure storage tanks with up to 1000 bar through a pressure regulator and a heat exchanger, which brings the temperature of the gaseous hydrogen down to -40° C. This precooling compensates for the temperature increase occurring inside the vehicle's tank due to hydrogen compression.
Explaining further, Florian differentiated between active and passive cooling methods. Active cooling is divided into direct and indirect types. In direct cooling, the hydrogen is cooled directly via a diffusion-bonded heat exchanger. With indirect cooling, an additional cooling circuit is added with a large storage tank and a liquid coolant as an intermediate. Lastly, passive cooling employs an aluminum block heat exchanger.
If you like the video, please also subscribe to our new Hyfindr Youtube Channel. We launched Hyfindr Tech Talks in January - a new format that is specifically designed for engineers who are interesed in the hydrogen economy!
Steven is a fuel cell system designer and he will deep-dive into the technology that makes the hydrogen economy work with real experts. We hope you will like the new format.