Lab Capabilities
- 620 L (22 cubic feet) of 410 bar (6000 psi) hydrogen storage
- Dual-stage pneumatic compressor
- Sized for propulsion and automotive application
- Remotely controlled to supply multiple research areas
- Six-port MBraun LabMaster glovebox with instrumentation feedthroughs
- Argon atmosphere maintained at less than 0.1 ppm water vapor and less than 0.1 ppm oxygen
- 1.5 cubic meters of working space
- Oversized antechamber for transfer of kilogram-scale hydride systems
- Multiple kilogram scale hydrogen storage systems
- System rated to 410 bar; remotely controlled
- Storage systems designed and successfully tested to fill hydrogen within 5 minutes
- Experiments support analytical and CFD hydride bed modeling
- Characterize hydrogen storage materials at pressure and temperatures expected for vehicle operation
- Study metal hydrides (TiCrMn and LaNi5) and high pressure adsorbents
- Operating conditions of vacuum to 700 bar, 230 to 350 K
- PID temperature control using thermoelectric coolers
- Measure thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, and volumetric specific heat of powders, pellets, and composite materials via transient heating methods (plane source and hot wire methods)
- Knowledge of these properties is critical for the utilization of solid-state materials for hydrogen storage
- Operates in ambient environment, Argon environment, or sealed pressure vessel
- Pressure vessel operation from vacuum to 630 bar and room temperature to 670 K
- Automatic 3D image reconstruction
- Topographical mapping down to micro-meter scales
- Precise length and area measurements at micro-meter to millimeter scales
- Developed Purdue Metal Hydride Toolbox (PMHT) of properties and sub-models of over 300 hydrides
- Made PMHT freely available for other researchers and collaborators through GitHub
