PRESSURE TANK AND DETECTION METHOD OF PRESSURE TANK INTERNAL ABNORMALITY

• US 20100001851A1
• Filed: 09/15/2009
• Published: 01/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Handa, Kiyoshi
• Granted Patent: US 8,264,337 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/438
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 1/16 constructed of plastics materials shaping of plastics B29C
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2201/0109 with exteriorly curved end-piece
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2201/035 with substantially horizontal main axis
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2201/056 Small (<1 m3)
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2203/0604 Liners
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2203/0619 with two layers
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2203/0646 Aluminium
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2203/0658 Synthetics
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2203/066 Plastics
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2203/0663 in form of fibers or filaments
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2203/0673 Polymers
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2205/0107 Frames
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2205/013 Two or more vessels
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2205/0305 Bosses, e.g. boss collars
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2205/0352 Pipes
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2221/012 Hydrogen
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2223/0123 gaseous, e.g. CNG, GNC
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2223/036 Very high pressure (>80 bar)
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2250/03 Control means
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2250/043 Pressure
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2250/0465 : Vibrations, e.g. of acoustic type
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2250/0491 : Parameters measured at or inside the vessel
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2260/012 : Reducing weight
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2260/015 : Facilitating maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2260/042 : Reducing risk of explosion
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2270/0168 : by vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2270/0178 : Cars
• CPC Class Codes: F17C 2270/0184 : Fuel cells
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 3/24 : using infrasonic, sonic, or ultrasonic vibrations
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/32 : Hydrogen storage

Abstract

A pressure tank including, a tank wall; a supporting member which includes fiber reinforced plastic and supports an outer surface of the tank wall; a supersonic wave sensor which is connected to the tank wall, and which detects a sonic wave propagated in the tank wall; and an internal abnormality determination member which is connected to the supersonic wave sensor, and which determines whether an internal abnormality exits in the tank wall, wherein the internal abnormality determination member determines the existence of the internal abnormality based on the detection result during gas is charged into the pressure tank, and outputs an abnormality signal when the internal abnormality was determined to exist.

Claims

1. A pressure tank having a tank wall whose outer surface is reinforced with a reinforcement layer made of fiber reinforced plastic, the pressure tank comprising:

an ultrasonic sensor connected to the tank wall, the ultrasonic sensor detecting a sonic wave that propagates in the tank wall; and

an internal defect determining unit connected to the ultrasonic sensor, the internal defect determining unit determining whether an internal defect exists in the tank wall on the basis of a detection result obtained by the ultrasonic sensor,

wherein the internal defect determining unit determines whether an internal defect has occurred in the tank wall using a sonic wave detected by the ultrasonic sensor while an inside of the tank wall is being filled with gas, and the internal defect determining unit outputs an abnormal signal if an internal defect has occurred in the tank wall.

2. The pressure tank according to claim 1,

wherein the ultrasonic sensor is disposed at a center of an end plate portion of the tank wall, and the ultrasonic sensor includes

a pressure sensor detecting a pressure inside the pressure tank, and

a storage unit storing a relationship between a pressure inside the tank wall and a sonic wave that propagates in the tank wall when an internal defect does not exist in the tank wall, and

wherein the internal defect determining unit performs noise canceling by comparing a sonic wave stored in the storage unit corresponding to a pressure detected by the pressure sensor with a sonic wave detected by the ultrasonic sensor, and the internal defect determining unit determines whether an internal defect exists on the basis of a state of a sonic wave after noise canceling is performed.

3. The pressure tank according to claim 1, wherein the pressure tank is a high-pressure hydrogen tank mounted on a vehicle body so as to supply fuel gas to a fuel cell vehicle.

4. The pressure tank according to claim 3, wherein the abnormal signal is a filling stop command signal that is output to a filling station.

5. The pressure tank according to claim 3, further comprising informing means for informing a driver of occurrence of an internal defect when the internal defect determining unit determines that the internal defect has occurred in the tank wall.

6. A pressure tank having a tank wall whose outer surface is reinforced with a reinforcement layer made of fiber reinforced plastic, the pressure tank comprising:

an ultrasonic probe disposed on the tank wall, the ultrasonic probe emitting a sonic wave into the tank wall and receiving a reflected wave of the sonic wave; and

an internal defect determining unit determining a state of an internal defect in the tank wall on the basis of the reflected wave received by the ultrasonic probe,

wherein the internal defect determining unit performs noise canceling by comparing the reflected wave received by the ultrasonic probe with a reflected wave in a case when an internal defect does not exist in the tank wall, and determines the state of an internal defect on the basis of a state of a sonic wave after noise canceling is performed.

7. A method of detecting an internal defect in a tank wall of a pressure tank, the tank wall having an outer surface reinforced with a reinforcement layer made of fiber reinforced plastic, the method comprising:

a sonic wave detecting step of detecting a sonic wave that propagates in the tank wall due to an increase in pressure inside the tank wall;

an internal defect determining step of determining whether an internal defect exists in the tank wall; and

an abnormal signal outputting step of outputting an abnormal signal when the internal defect determining step determines that an internal defect has occurred in the tank wall,

wherein the internal defect determining step includes a noise cancelling step of canceling noise by comparing a state of the sonic wave detected by the sonic wave detecting step with a state of a sonic wave that propagates in the tank wall when an internal defect does not exist in the tank wall, and the internal defect determining step determines whether an internal defect exists in the tank wall on the basis of a state of a sonic wave after noise is canceled by the noise canceling step.

8. A method of detecting an internal defect in a tank wall of a pressure tank, the tank wall having an outer surface reinforced with a reinforcement layer made of fiber reinforced plastic, the method comprising:

a sonic wave emitting step of emitting a sonic wave into the tank wall;

a reflected wave receiving step of receiving a reflected wave of the sonic wave emitted by the sonic wave emitting step;

an internal defect determining step of determining a state of an internal defect in the tank wall; and

an abnormal signal outputting step of outputting an abnormal signal when the internal defect determining step determines that an internal defect has occurred in the tank wall,

wherein the internal defect determining step includes a noise canceling step of canceling noise by comparing a state of the reflected wave received by the reflected wave receiving step with a state of a reflected wave in a case when an internal defect does not exist in the tank wall, and the internal defect determining step determines a state of an internal defect in the tank wall on the basis of a state of a sonic wave after noise is canceled.

9. A pressure tank comprising,

a tank wall;

a supporting member which includes fiber reinforced plastic and supports an outer surface of the tank wall;

a supersonic wave sensor which is connected to the tank wall, and which detects a sonic wave propagated in the tank wall; and

an internal abnormality determination member which is connected to the supersonic wave sensor, and which determines whether an internal abnormality exits in the tank wall, wherein

the internal abnormality determination member determines the existence of the internal abnormality based on the detection result during gas is charged into the pressure tank, and outputs an abnormality signal when the internal abnormality was determined to exist.

10. The pressure tank according to claim 9, wherein

the supersonic wave sensor includes a pressure sensor which detects an internal pressure of the pressure tank;

and

a storage member which stores the relationship information between

the internal pressure of the pressure tank in a status having no internal abnormality, and

a sonic wave shape propagated in the tank wall at the internal pressure, wherein;

the internal abnormality determination member performs a noise cancellation, by comparing the sonic wave shape stored in the storage member corresponding to the internal pressure detected by the pressure sensor, and the sonic wave shape detected by the supersonic wave sensor; and

the internal abnormality determination member determines whether an internal abnormality exists, based on the sonic wave shape after the noise cancellation.

11. The pressure tank according to claim 9, wherein

the pressure tank is loaded on a fuel cell vehicle in the interior thereof, and supplies gas fuel to fuel cells of the fuel cell vehicle.

12. The pressure tank according to claim 11, wherein

the abnormality signal is outputted to a fuel charge station and cause the fuel charge station to holt a fuel charge operation.

13. The pressure tank according to claim 11, further comprising a notification member which notifies an occurrence of the internal abnormality to an operator, when the internal abnormality of the tank wall is determined by the internal abnormality determination member.

14. A pressure tank comprising:

a tank wall provided with a supporting member including fiber reinforced plastic at a outer surface of the tank wall;

a supersonic wave probe provided on the tank wall, which emits a sonic wave into the tank wall, and receives a reflection sonic wave of the emitted sonic wave; and

an internal abnormality determination member which determines the status of an internal abnormality in the tank wall, based on the reflection sonic wave received by the supersonic wave probe, wherein;

the internal abnormality determination member performs a noise cancellation, by comparing the reflection sonic wave received by the supersonic wave probe, and a sonic wave stored in advance in a status where no internal abnormality exists; and

the internal abnormality determination member determines a status of the internal abnormality, based on a status of the reflection sonic wave after the noise cancellation.

15. The pressure tank according to claim 14, wherein:

the pressure tank is loaded on a fuel cell vehicle in the interior thereof, and supplies gas fuel to fuel cells of the fuel cell vehicle;

the internal abnormality determination member determines a status of the internal abnormality in a period from a turn-on of an ignition of the fuel cell vehicle until a start of the fuel cell vehicle;

when the internal abnormality determination member determined that there is no internal abnormality, the internal abnormality determination member allows the start of the fuel cell vehicle; and

when the internal abnormality determination member determined that there is an internal abnormality, the internal abnormality determination member notifies an operator of the fuel cell vehicle with the occurrence of the internal abnormality.

16. The pressure tank according to claim 14, further comprising:

a first head plate which is provided at a first end along an axial direction of the pressure tank, and which has a mouth piece at a center part of the first head plate; and

a second head plate which is provided at a second end along an axial direction of the pressure tank, and which has a supersonic wave probe at a center part of the second head plate.

17. An internal abnormality detection method of a pressure tank, the pressure tank having a tank wall and a supporting member at an outer surface of the tank wall, the supporting member including fiber reinforced plastic, the method comprising:

a sonic wave detection process which detects a sonic wave that propagates in the tank wall accompanied with an internal pressure rise in the tank wall;

an internal abnormality determination process which determines whether an internal abnormality of the tank wall exists or not; and

an abnormality signal output process, in which, when the internal abnormality determination process determined that an internal abnormality exists in the tank wall, an abnormality signal is outputted, wherein;

the internal abnormality determination process includes a noise cancellation process, which performs a noise cancellation by comparing a sonic wave status detected in the sonic wave detection process and a sonic wave status propagated in the tank wall in a state in which no internal abnormality exists in the tank wall; and

the internal abnormality determination process uses the sonic wave status after the noise cancellation, in order to determine the internal abnormality in the tank wall.

18. An internal abnormality detection method of a pressure tank, the pressure tank having a tank wall and a supporting member at an outer surface of the tank wall, the supporting member including fiber reinforced plastic, the method comprising:

a sonic wave emission process which emits a sonic wave into the tank wall;

an echo reception process which receives a reflection sonic wave of the sonic wave emitted in the sonic wave emission process;

an internal abnormality determination process which determines the status of an internal abnormality of the tank wall; and

an abnormality signal output process, in which, when the internal abnormality determination process determined that an internal abnormality exists in the tank wall, an abnormality signal is outputted, wherein;

the internal abnormality determination process includes a noise cancellation process, which performs a noise cancellation by comparing the reflection sonic wave detected in the echo reception process and a sonic wave propagated in the tank wall in a state in which no internal abnormality exists in the tank wall; and

the internal abnormality determination process uses the sonic wave status after the noise cancellation, in order to determine the internal abnormality in the tank wall.

19. The internal abnormality detection method according to claim 18, wherein

the internal abnormality determination process determines a status of the internal abnormality in a period from a turn-on of an ignition of the fuel cell vehicle until a start of the fuel cell vehicle;

when the internal abnormality determination process determined that there is no internal abnormality, the internal abnormality determination process allows the start of the fuel cell vehicle; and

when the internal abnormality determination process determined that there is an internal abnormality, the internal abnormality determination process notifies an operator of the fuel cell vehicle with the occurrence of the internal abnormality.