Pressure tank and detection method of pressure tank internal abnormality

• US 8,264,337 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2009
• Issued: 09/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Handa, Kiyoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Phung
• Application Number:
  US12/497,028
• Publication Number:
  US 20100001851A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,092 Days
• Field of Search: 340/438, 340/514, 340/611, 340/621, 340/626, 73/37, 73/40
• 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 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.

2. The pressure tank according to claim 1, 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.

3. The pressure tank according to claim 1, 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.

4. The pressure tank according to claim 3, wherein

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

5. The pressure tank according to claim 3, 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.

6. 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,

wherein the sonic wave stored in advance comprises a plurality of amplitude and corresponding time values.

7. The pressure tank according to claim 6, 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.

8. The pressure tank according to claim 6, 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.

9. 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.

10. 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,

wherein the sonic wave propagated in a tank in a state in which no internal abnormality exists comprises a plurality of amplitude and corresponding time values.

11. The internal abnormality detection method according to claim 10, 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.