Project Lead:
Dr Simon Rees
simon.rees@nortonstraw.com
+44 (0)117 325 0769
Hydrogen fuel cells are a promising technology for small to medium sized power, particularly for road and rail freight. However, hydrogen has a wide flammability range and its deflagration-to-detonation distance (the point at which a low grade explosion becomes a destructive supersonic detonation) is poorly characterised. Our client needed to know the containment vessel for their design of fuel cell would withstand such an explosion.
We identified that even if we assumed detonation conditions, which was unlikely in the length scales of the vessel, that the failure probability was acceptably low. Our client has been able to progress with development of their fuel cell.