Development of “Hybrid Hydrogen Tank” for Fuel Cell Vehicles

Hydrogen attracts attention as clean energy of the next generation. In order to put a hydrogen energy system to practical use, the technical development of safe and efficient storage/transportation media is on of the most important subjects. On board hydrogen tank which is under development can be classified into following two types; 1) high pressure hydrogen tank, 2) metal hydride storage tank. However, metal hydride storage tank do not meet the requirement for on board storage of hydrogen in weight densities. Many fuel cell vehicles adopt a high pressure hydrogen tank (35MPa, 70MPa), but have a problem to volumetric density now. This research is the development of a “hybrid hydrogen tank” which is a combination of type 3 high pressure hydrogen tank and metal hydride. “Hybrid hydrogen tank” is superior to a high pressure container of 70MPa in volumetric density. In this presentation, the development status of recent “hybrid hydrogen tank” will be introduced.