Effect of cascade storage system topology on the cooling energy consumption in fueling stations for hydrogen vehicles

One of the main obstacles of the diffusion of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) is the refueling system. The new stations follow the refueling protocol from the Society of Automotive Engineers where the way to reach the target pressure is not explained. This work analyzes the thermodynamics of a hydrogen fueling station in order to study the effects of the cascade storage system topology on the energy consumption for the cooling facility. It is found that the energy consumption for cooling increases, expanding the total volume of the cascade storage system. Comparing the optimal and the worst volume configurations of the cascade storage tanks at different ambient temperatures, the energy saving is approximately 12% when the average ambient temperature is 20 °C and around 20% when the average ambient temperature is 30 °C. The energy consumption for cooling is significantly influenced by the topology of the cascade storage system and it is particularly relevant in the case of low daily-dispensed amount of hydrogen.