In this study, numerical analysis was performed on a type IV hydrogen storage tank to analyze the temperature change of hydrogen inside the tank and the filling performance by changing the inlet nozzle outlet angle and the number of outlets. Considering the residual state of charge (SOC) inside the initial tank, the initial pressure was 10 MPa, and the temperature of hydrogen inside the tank and the SOC results were analyzed when hydrogen with a temperature of 233 K was introduced under the conditions of liner, wrap, and outside temperature of 298 K. The results of the analysis showed that the charging completion rate reached the charging limit pressure. The analysis showed that time of filling completion, when the filling limit pressure is reached, the SOC result is about 94% for all geometry change conditions, and the filling completion time increases by 5s as the number of outlets decreases. The temperature change of the wrap area at the end of filling is up to 3.6K, which shows that the outside air temperature has a negligible effect on the hydrogen temperature change inside the tank.

The government declared ‘2050 carbon neutrality’ as a national vision in October 2020 and subsequently pursued the establishment of a ‘2050 carbon neutrality scenario’ as a follow-up response. Hydrogen is considered as one of the most promising future energy carriers due to its noteworthy advantages of renewable, environmentally friendly and high calorific value. Liquid hydrogen is thus more advantageous for large-scale storage and transportation. However, due to the large difference between the liquid hydrogen temperature and the environment temperature, an inevitable heat leak into the storage tanks of liquid hydrogen occurs, causing boil-off losses and vent of hydrogen gas. Researches on insulation materials for liquid hydrogen are actively being conducted, but research on support design for minimal heat transfer and enhanced rigidity remains insufficient. In this study, to design support structures for liquid hydrogen storage tanks, a thermal-structural coupled analysis technique was developed using Ansys Workbench. Analytical models were created based on the number and arrangement of supports to propose structurally safe support designs.

Hydrogen is considered as one of the most promising future energy carriers due to its noteworthy advantages of renewable, environmentally friendly and high calorific value. However, the low density of hydrogen makes its storage an urgent technical problem for hydrogen energy development. Compared with the density of gas hydrogen, the density of liquid hydrogen is more than 1.5 times higher. Liquid hydrogen is thus more advantageous for large-scale storage and transportation. However, due to the large difference between the liquid hydrogen temperature and the environment temperature, an inevitable heat leak into the storage tanks of liquid hydrogen occurs, causing boil-off losses and vent of hydrogen gas. Researches on insulation materials for liquid hydrogen are actively being conducted, but research on support design for minimal heat transfer and enhanced rigidity remains insufficient. In this study, to design support for liquid hydrogen storage tank, technique of thermal-structural coupled analysis including geometry, mesh, and boundary condition were developed using Ansys workbench, and equivalent stress and deformation distributions were analyzed.