Development of Fabrication Method and Burst Strength of CFRP Pressure Vessel Reinforced with Cylindrical Grid

摘要

In order to reduce carbon dioxide and air pollution emissions, fuel cell vehiclesrn(FCVs) are being developed, and CFRP pressure vessels have been used as thernhydrogen storage systems for the FCVs. Since the FCVs are expected to increaserndriving distances of at least over 500 km, which is similar to those of conventionalrngasoline-fueled vehicles, the storage pressure of hydrogen must be raised from 35rnMPa to 70 MPa. It is important to decrease the amount of carbon fibers in order tornreduce a cost and a weight of the CFRP pressure vessels. In this study, the cylindricalrngrid which was consisted of hoop stiffeners and helical stiffeners was fabricated withrntwo types of particular mandrels and a 3-axis filament winding apparatus. Then, thernCFRP pressure vessel was inserted into the cylindrical grid, and burst tests of thernCFRP pressure vessels reinforced with and without the cylindrical grid werernconducted. Moreover, their experimental results were compared with numerical onesrnobtained by a FEM analysis, and the mechanical properties and the reinforcementrneffects of the CFRP pressure vessels reinforced with the cylindrical grids wererninvestigated.