JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #93 - December 2014 - 17

CFRP

Innovative large composite tank for
hydrogen gas fuelling stations

Starting with the development of a metallic fire
extinguisher in collaboration with the Japan Nuclear
Cycle Development Institute in 2000, Maruhachi is
working on the research and development as well
as the practical applications of CFRP high-pressure
containers.

By
Masataka Sugawara
President
Maruhachi Corporation

stablished in 1936,
Maruhachi Corporation started its business
selling textile machines and
components. It started producing and selling circular
knitting equipment in 1975
and has since become an
industry leader with more
than 100 different knitting machines. Its business
has changed from selling
machinery to the production
and sale of textiles. Today,
Maruhachi Corp. is concentrating its resources on the
research and development
of cutting-edge composite
materials such as carbon fi-

bre and aromatic polyamide
fibre. Based on the "Spredo
yarn" technology, for which
Fukui Prefecture has obtained a global patent, the
company is conducting applied research and development of ultra-thin, laminated and multi-axial prepreg
sheets using thermoset and
thermoplastic resins.

An innovative
CFRP tank
This time, Maruhachi has
developed an innovative
high-pressure hydrogen
fuel storage tank made of
carbon-fibre-reinforced
composite material (CFRP).
High-pressure tanks are
rapidly shifting from Type
3 CFRP high-pressure
containers with aluminium
liners to Type 4 CFRP
high-pressure containers
with plastic liners to achieve
higher levels of durability,
safety and reliability. Type
3 is gaining market recognition and becoming a standard as a high-pressure con-

tainer to be mounted on fuel
cell automobiles. However,
large tanks for transporting hydrogen are expensive
and they are required to
have economic efficiency
(long life/durability of more
than 15 years). Thus, it is
considered as important to
commercialize Type 4 CFRP
high-pressure containers
with a plastic liner. Maruhachi Corp. has developed
a CFRP high-pressure hydrogen fuel storage tank for
hydrogen fuelling stations
using its basic technology
for CFRP high-pressure
containers. The new tank
has the following characteristics:
- Design pressure:
106 MPa
- Filling pressure:
86 MPa
- Inner volume:
200 to 300 litres
- Liner outside diameter:
400 mm, length: 2,200 mm
to 2,500 mm
- Burst pressure: over 200 MPa
- Cycles: over 100,000

pressure cycles between
0 and 107 MPa
The figures may change, as
the tank will be subject to
regulations to be created in
Japan after the fiscal year
starting April 2014.
Maruhachi Corp. plans
to develop a Type 4 highpressure container for
transporting high-pressure
hydrogen gas (45 MPa to 86
MPa), and create a bundling
transportation system.

Research and
development
Maruhachi Corp. began
developing a Type 4 highpressure container with
a filling pressure of 70P
Ma with support from the
Ministry of Economy, Trade
and Industry and succeeded
in developing a 30-litre
high-pressure container in
2007. The container cleared
the required burst pressure
of 175 MPa and 11,150
pressure cycles. It has been
supplied to automakers and
laboratories, among others,
on an experimental basis.

Fig. 1: CFRP high-pressure container

No93 December 2014

/ jec composites magazine 17

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #93 - December 2014

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