JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #54 - January 2010 - 43

USERS’ PLATFORM Successfull partners High-pressure hydrogen storage tanks made by RTM High-pressure hydrogen storage tanks for the automotive sector were traditionally fabricated by filament winding. Profiles Composites found another way to produce them, together with its partners, the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences, A&P Technology, Bayer Materials Sciences, MAG - Cincinnati Automation, and Toyota Engineering and Manufacturing US. They received a JEC Award 2009 in the Transportation category for this breakthrough. P roducing a high-pressure hydrogen storage tank using the filament winding process typically takes well over 6 hours. Profile Composites and its partners developed a method to produce tanks with a cycle time under 20 minutes and a unique process solution that is fully automatable. More information Profile Composites Inc. specializes in the manufacture of prepreg carbon composites for sporting goods and in commercial R&D/new product development. Active in wind, hydrogen storage, and large precision composite antenna applications, the company focuses on rapid production and automated manufacturing. team in the final stages of development, progressing towards certification of the high-pressure hydrogen tanks considering the new manufacturing approach. The system uses innovative fibre placement methods, automated machinery, and a novel tooling and resin curing approach. The system is commercially feasible thanks to the use of resin transfer moulding with a dry fibre preform combined with fibre tension control techniques. In partnership with A&P the preform was designed and , developed to achieve tailored properties. burst for the tanks. The innovative approach results in very consistent failures that are initiated and progress in an almost "unzippering" fashion with very benign effects in contrast to typical composite pressure vessel failures. This is achieved by the combination of materials and design. It is also a key performance factor in achieving commercial success. Innovation through partnership Cooperation was the key to achieve this amazingly short production time. The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences developed the necessary partnerships and provided the technology. A&P Technology developed a custom carbon braid solution and a specific wrapping methodology. Bayer Materials Sciences provided the custom resin system and the cure control system. The production equipment was supplied by MAG - Cincinnati Automation. Toyota Engineering and Manufacturing US was the OEM in charge of vehicle specifications and application. US Department of Transportation is providing financial and technical assistance to the NCMS/Profile Launch and potential The final development of automation systems and equipment is in progress. The commercial launch of natural gas tanks for vehicles is anticipated, as they operate under lower pressures than required for hydrogen. Product development is currently in progress for 690 bar (10,000 psi) Type III and Type IV tanks per the OEM requirements. This new approach has the capability of making high-pressure hydrogen storage tanks consistent with volume automotive production rates, without an extensive investment in multiple filament winding production lines. As the process production rate is improved by a factor of over 24 as compared with filament winding, a huge market potential is expected in the transportation field. More information: www.profilecomposites.com Less than 20 minutes to make a tank Each process step was addressed with the partners, resulting in a combined process that achieves any single stage in less than 20 minutes. The actual tank production cycle is under 20 minutes per tooling line. The tooling and wrapping approaches are key to the process. Their details are highly proprietary within the project. The resin system was customized by Bayer for the application. The injection and curing conditions were set such to allow extremely rapid production without any incidence of process failure, even when using very thick composites with high fibre densities. One of the main targets was to develop an improved failure mode under high-pressure No54 January 2010 / jec composites magazine

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JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #54 - January 2010

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