(DE/ENG) Development and Assessment of a Hydrogen Metal Hydride Storage Manufactured by Laser Powder Bed Fusion
E-Mail: tim.roever@tuhh.de
Project Report / Master’s Thesis
(DE/ENG) Development and Assessment of a Hydrogen Metal Hydride Storage Manufactured by Laser Powder Bed Fusion
Background and motivation
Hydrogen as an energy carrier is attributed considerable importance in reduction of carbon dioxide emissions worldwide and transformation of the current economy to a low-carbon one. Production, storage, transportation and application of hydrogen are the key steps in the life cycles of hydrogen. It is desirable to increase the efficiency in any of these steps as well as enhance functionality of the systems. Metal hydride storages can be used to store hydrogen at relatively low pressures while being relatively compact in size. Apart from using them for immobile systems they were also found to be beneficial in hydrogen driven submarines or hydrogen driven fork lifts.
Additive manufacturing (AM) offers great potential for the simple and direct production of complex and functional components made of polymers and metals. Due to the freedom of design, AM offers great innovation potential compared to conventional manufacturing processes. In many cases, component designs that exploit the possibilities of AM show higher technical performance or functionality compared to components manufactured by conventional processes. Aerospace, automotive, tooling and machining as well as medical are some of the industries in which additive manufacturing was already used successfully in the past. It is expected that freedom of design due to laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) as a additive manufacturing technique allows for storages with better functionality than conventionally manufactured components. LPBF is the AM technique of choice in this student thesis due to its high degree of maturity compared to other metal AM techniques. The objective of the thesis is to develop a new concept for dimensioning and design of addively manufactured hydrogen metal hydride storages (HMHS). Goals are an optimized heating and cooling system of the metal hydride to achieve fast adsorption and desorption processes with good controlability. Additional goals are small outer dimensions of the system (compactness) and a low mass of the system. The design is to be detailed, manufactured and assessed. The thesis is carried out in cooperation between the Institute of Laser and System Technologies and Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon.
Contents of the thesis
- Research on state of the art of science and technology
- Identification of load conditions and requirements of HMHS
- Development and evaluation of design concepts for HMHS
- Development and dimensioning of a detailed AM design for HMHS
- Validation of final design
- Additive manufacturing of demonstrator
- Documentation of results (in either English or German)
What we expect from you
- Ongoing studies in a relevant discipline (product development, theoretical mechanical engineering, energy systems, mechanical engineering, production engineering, computing in science, computational methods in mechanical engineering, etc.)
- Strong communication skills, reliability and an independent and structured way of working
- Ideally, you will have experience in the fields of hydrogen technologies, pressure containers, and/or additive manufacturing
If you have questions about the offer or want to apply for the position contact:
M.Sc. Tim Röver
Email: tim.roever@tuhh.de
Phone: +49 40 484010-785