A system and method for protecting a lightweight pressure vessel capable of airborne and underwater use. The system includes an enclosure and a gas container that is capable of holding pressurized or liquefied gas in sufficient quantity to increase internal pressure of the pressure vessel, so that the internal pressure of the pressure vessel equals an external pressure of the pressure vessel. The system also includes a pressure relief device coupled to the enclosure. The pressure relief device is configured to release the pressurized or liquefied gas from the pressure vessel when the internal pressure exceeds the external pressure by a predetermined amount. The system also includes a gas supply mechanism coupled to the gas container, the gas supply mechanism being configured to allow gas from the gas container into order to increase the internal pressure of the pressure vessel until the internal pressure equals the external pressure.

The present invention is to properly manage life of an accumulator and extend the life of the accumulator. A gas supply system includes a control section, an acquiring section, a classifying section, and a judging section. The acquiring section acquires stress amplitude of accumulators from a pressure difference between first pressure on the gas storage side and second pressure on the gas lead-out side. The classifying section classifies the stress amplitude into a plurality of groups. The judging section divides the calculated acquirement number n.sub.i of the stress amplitude for each of the groups by the predetermined breaking cycle number N.sub.i, and determines a fatigue degree n.sub.i/N.sub.i. In a case where this value becomes a predetermined threshold value or more, the judging section judges that the accumulator comes to the end of the life.

Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed herein that include a cryogenic pump system comprising: a cryogenic liquid tank; a cryogenic pump including a suction adapter, the suction adapter connected to the cryogenic liquid tank via a liquid supply line and a gaseous return line; and a phase separator connected downstream of the cryogenic liquid tank and upstream of the cryogenic pump, the phase separator including a filtration structure integrated into the liquid supply line to separate vapor from cryogenic liquid, the phase separator connected to the gaseous return line to direct the vapor to the cryogenic liquid tank.

A control conduit for liquid hydrogen offloading is configured to couple a controller of a liquid hydrogen offload system to a liquid hydrogen tanker. The control conduit includes a control line and a gas detector. The control line is configured to transmit a control signal from the controller to the liquid hydrogen tanker. The gas detector is configured to detect hydrogen gas and provide a gas detector signal to the controller. The gas detector is secured to the control line at a predetermined distance from a tanker connection end of the control line.

A cryogenic delivery tank includes a vessel having inner and outer shells and an interior that may contain a cryogenic liquid with a headspace above. A transfer pipe passes through the interior of the vessel and includes a head space coil positioned within an upper portion of the interior and a liquid side coil positioned in the lower portion of the interior. The transfer pipe has a first port adjacent to the head space coil and a second port adjacent to the liquid side coil. The first and second ports of the transfer pipe are configured to be removably attached to a second tank.

Disclosed herein is a system for storing gas at almost constant pressure, which involves the injection and withdrawal of a liquid in a process known as hydraulic compensation. This disclosure teaches a way to minimize that dissolution by ensuring that, as the gas containment is charged up, the hydraulic compensation liquid emerges from the containment at the gas storage pressure and the pressure of that liquid is caused to fall in a number of discrete steps with settling volumes present at the nodes between these steps. These settling volumes enable some gas to come out of solution at each node having lost relatively small amounts of pressure. The gas is compressed back up to storage pressure and re-injected into the main storage containment without significant use of energy.

A hydrogen gas filling method includes: a step for acquiring a pre-supply upstream pressure that is a pressure in a station side of a piping at time t0, a step for starting the supply of hydrogen gas from the station at time t1 that is after the pre-supply upstream pressure is acquired, a step for acquiring a post-supply upstream pressure at time t2 that is immediate after the supply of hydrogen gas starts, a step for acquiring a start-time flowrate that is a flowrate of hydrogen gas at the same period as the step for starting, a step for estimating the pressure loss generated in the piping at the time of the supply by using the pre-supply upstream pressure, post-supply upstream pressure, and the start-time flowrate, and a step for stopping the supply of hydrogen gas so that a tank pressure conforms with a predetermined target pressure.

A method for supplying helium to at least one end user is disclosed by feeding helium from at least one container of helium to an end user through at least one supply system, wherein a mass flow meter and a pressure transmitter, in electronic communication with a programmable logic controller measures an amount of helium being supplied to the at least one user, provides the amount to the programmable logic controller which provides a signal to the at least one end user of an amount of helium that remains in the at least one container and the temperature therein.

A method for filling a tank with pressurized gaseous hydrogen from at least one source storage containing pressurized gaseous hydrogen at a first defined temperature and at a defined pressure higher than the pressure in the tank to be filled, in which hydrogen is transferred from the source storage to the tank by pressure balancing via a filling circuit having an upstream end linked to the source storage and a downstream end linked to the tank, and in which the at least one source storage exchanges heat with a member for heating the gas stored in the source storage, during at least a part of the transfer of hydrogen from the source storage to the tank, the gas contained in the source storage being heated to a second defined temperature that is higher than the first temperature.

To provide a gas filling method in which it is possible to estimate a volume of a tank with high accuracy even when the tank has a small volume. A hydrogen filling system includes a hydrogen station having a pressure accumulator of compressed hydrogen gas, a vehicle having a hydrogen tank, a connection tube system that connects the accumulator and the tank, and a flow rate sensor and a station pressure sensor provided on the connection tube system. A hydrogen gas filling method is a method of filling the tank with the hydrogen gas from the pressure accumulator and includes estimating a volume of the hydrogen tank based on detection values of the flow rate sensor and the station pressure sensor and a volume value of the connection tube system, after a start of filling of the hydrogen tank with the hydrogen gas from the pressure accumulator.