At the European Hydrogen Energy Conference 2024, which took place from the 6th to the 8th of March in Bilbao, Spain, Nick Kachelriess, research assistant at FEN Research GmbH, presented “Efficient and Innovative Hydrogen Tank Design for a Lightweight Hydrogen-Powered Drone” within the framework of the Hydrogen Drone project.
In this poster presentation, the investigation results for other innovative type V (all-composite) hydrogen tank designs for a lightweight hydrogen-powered rotary-wing drone are shown. Initially, three tank geometries are considered, suggesting an enhanced integration into the drone platform. Using the finite
element method (FEM), a comparison of these three tank geometries is given based on the mass, stability, and storage capacity. The obtained results show that the torus is the most promising geometry for hydrogen tanks, due to its high storage capacity with low tank mass, as well as offering additional space in the centre of the domain, beneficial for flight stability.
Consortium leader FH Kufstein Tirol Bildungs GmbH together with project partners FEN Research GmbH – HyWest Research Center, Twins GmbH and Wolftank Adisa GmbH plan to further complete these investigations using topological optimisation methods which have been shown to have crucial impacts in structural mechanics.
