A bayonet coupling system includes a bayonet, a bayonet coupler, and a seal. The bayonet includes a bayonet tube configured to enable the flow of hydrogen fuel therethrough, and a flange coupled to the bayonet tube. The seal is configured to surround the bayonet tube and contact the flange along one side of the flange. The bayonet coupler includes a bayonet coupler tube having an inside diameter larger than an outside diameter of the bayonet tube, the bayonet coupler tube configured to receive the bayonet tube and to seal against the flange at the seal. The bayonet coupler is fixedly mounted directly or indirectly to a hydrogen storage tank such that a longitudinal axis of the bayonet coupler is inclined a predetermined angle with respect to horizontal to prevent a substantial thermal gradient from forming at the seal.

A storage tank includes a frame, tank assembly, and scrubber system. The tank assembly including a vessel supported by the frame and having a first end, a second end, and a sidewall extending from the first end to the second end. The vessel further has a top, a bottom, at least one side, an internal surface, and an outlet fluidly coupled with the bottom. A scrubber tank is supported by the frame and fluidly connected to the top of the vessel to receive vapors from the vessel in a way that when a vapor absorption material is disposed in the scrubber tank, the vapors pass into the vapor absorption material.

Leak testing is performed after filling a first tank with pressurized gas and before filling a second tank with the same via a filling circuit including first and second isolation valves. After the first tank is filled, the pressure of gas trapped between the two closed isolation valves is measured. If the pressure is below a predetermined threshold, the first isolation valve is opened until the pressure reaches or exceeds the predetermined threshold, at which time the first isolation valve is closed and the second isolation valve is opened so that the leak test may be performed. If the pressure is otherwise at or above the threshold, the leak test is performed.

A system and method of predicting impending failure of a pressure vessel include a pressure vessel, a fluid source, a line coupled to the pressure vessel and to the fluid source, an apparatus, a sensor and a controller. The apparatus includes a conduit and a containment structure. The containment structure includes a cavity separated from an interior of the conduit by a portion of a conduit wall of the conduit. The sensor is configured to determine a value of a physical property in the cavity. The controller is in signal communication with the sensor and configured to detect a change in the value. The method includes determining a first value of a physical property in the cavity, experiencing a failure of the conduit wall, determining a second value of the physical property in the cavity, and detecting a difference between the first and second values.

A composite storage tank system for gaseous hydrogen comprises a composite storage tank having composite wall enclosing a gas storage volume, the composite wall including a metal hydride element, or a metal element capable of forming a metal hydride in the presence of hydrogen, the system further comprising measuring apparatus arranged to measure an electrical characteristic of the metal hydride element or the metal element. The history of leakage of gaseous hydrogen from the tank, the current rate of leakage and the physical condition of the composite wall in the vicinity of the metal or metal hydride element may be inferred from a measurement of the electrical characteristic, without taking the tank out of service as is required in the case of known leaks tests such as a vacuum test, helium leak test or hydrogen sniffing test.

A method for detecting and preventing leaks of a double-walled container for the storage of poisonous, caustic, irritant and/or combustible media utilizes a double-walled container with an inner wall and an outer wall. A cavity is formed between the inner wall and the outer wall, a positive pressure is generated in the cavity, and in the event of a leak of the inner wall, a gas is fed to the cavity in order to maintain a positive pressure in the cavity. A container system includes an open-loop/closed-loop control device for the open-loop/closed-loop control of a gas throughflow in a line. The system includes a pressure measuring unit for measuring the pressure in the cavity of the double-walled container.

A composite storage tank comprises a composite wall enclosing a gas storage volume and defining a cylindrical portion (406) of the tank. The composite wall incorporates first) and second sets of metallic fibres each of which is susceptible to embrittlement by hydrogen and has ends extending through the exterior surface of the composite wall. By measuring the electrical resistances of the metallic fibres, a measure of the amount of hydrogen that has leaked through the composite wall over a period of time, and the present physical condition of the tank, may be determined. The approximate axial and azimuthal coordinates of a particular leakage point may also be determined.

A pressure vessel stores fuel. The pressure vessel includes a liner, a fiber-reinforced layer, at least one end piece, and at least one outlet. The fiber-reinforced layer surrounds the liner, at least in some regions. The end piece is covered by the fiber-reinforced layer, at least in some regions. The at least one outlet is used to carry fuel that has collected in a boundary layer between the liner and the fiber-reinforced layer and is to be drained. The outlet surrounds the end piece, at least in some sections. The outlet is arranged and formed in such a way that the fuel to be drained escapes from the boundary layer into the outlet.

The invention relates to a method for operating a tank system (10) comprising a number of at least two tanks (21, 22, 23, 24, 25), which are connected in parallel and which contain a gaseous substance, and in which an interior pressure (PX) prevails, for supplying a consumer unit (12), which requires a full load volume of the gaseous substance, wherein each tank (21, 22, 23, 24, 25) has a safety valve (31, 32, 33, 34, 35), which shuts down the tank if a flow volume of the gaseous material through the safety valve (31, 32, 33, 34, 35) exceeds a shut-off volume. If the interior pressure (PX) in at least one tank (21, 22, 23, 24, 25) falls below a first threshold, at least one other tank (21, 22, 23, 24, 25) that was previously shut down is connected.

The present invention relates to a method for determining loss of gas in a gas container. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method for determining the loss of gas in the gas container is characterized by including the steps of (a) filling a first container (10) with a component gas and a balance gas, (b) measuring a gas pressure inside the first gas container (11), (c) allowing the first gas container and a second gas container having an evacuated inside to communicate and performing a first-stage gas pressure split, and (d) measuring a gas pressure inside the second gas container, wherein an amount of the component gas adsorbed inside the gas container is calculated through a difference between a measured value of step (b) and a measured value of step (d) and is determined as an amount of gas loss.