L'air Liquide, Soci&#xe9;t&#xe9; Anonyme Pour L'etude Et L'exploitation Des Proc&#xe9;d&#xe9;s Georges Claude

Thomas Vinard

Laurent Allidieres

Thomas Charbonneau

Sebastian Sequeira

Sebastian-Eloy Sequeira

Sébastian Sequeira

Device for filling a container with a gas under pressure, especially hydrogen in a tank of a vehicle, comprising at least one source () of gas pressurized to a first pressure, called high pressure, a transfer circuit () capable of selectively connecting the source or sources () of pressurized gas to the tank to be filled, the transfer circuit comprising control members () for controlling the flow of the gas from the source or sources () to the tank, the transfer circuit further including at least one cooling exchanger (), for cooling the pressurized gas, wherein the cooling exchanger () comprises a hot flow circuit () for the pressurized gas to be cooled, a cold flow circuit () for a cold cooling fluid, and a refrigeration hold-over medium (), the refrigeration hold-over medium () being in direct heat exchange, on the one hand, with the cold fluid of the cold circuit () and, on the other hand, with the pressurized gas to be cooled of the hot circuit (), in order to selectively carry out indirect heat exchange between the pressurized gas and the cold fluid () via the refrigeration hold-over medium (), and wherein the refrigeration hold-over medium () forms and fills a gap () between the cold fluid of the cold circuit () and the pressurized gas of the hot circuit (), the gap () having a thickness of greater than 5 mm and preferably between 20 and 50 mm.

Device and method for filling a container with a gas under pressure

Device for filling a container with a gas under pressure comprising at least one source of gas pressurized to a first pressure, a transfer circuit capable of selectively connecting the source or sources of pressurized gas to the tank to be filled, the transfer circuit comprising control members for controlling the flow of the gas from the source or sources to the tank, the transfer circuit further including at least one cooling exchanger for cooling the pressurized gas comprising a hot flow circuit for the pressurized gas to be cooled, a cold flow circuit for a cold cooling fluid, and a refrigeration hold-over medium being in direct heat exchange with the cold fluid of the cold circuit and with the pressurized gas to be cooled of the hot circuit, in order to selectively carry out indirect heat exchange between the pressurized gas and the cold fluid, wherein the refrigeration hold-over medium forms and fills a gap between the cold fluid of the cold circuit and the pressurized gas of the hot circuit, the gap having a thickness of greater than 5 mm and preferably between 20 and 50 mm.

A method for filling a gas tank at a pressure Pfrom at least one gas source at a pressure Pi, Pbeing higher than V, said container and said at least one gas source being connected by a duct allowing the passage of gas from one to the other, the filing being carried out at a flow rate which is, at the end of the filling, lower than the initial flow rate, wherein said method comprises several successive filling stepsto i, each of the steps being carried out with a filling flow rate Dto Di for a time tto ti, i being an integer higher than or equal to 2, the flow rate of a step i-being higher than the flow rate of the step i,; characterized in that the successive filling stepsto i are adapted for producing a controlled heating of the container that maximizes the heat dispersal in said container without increasing the temperature inside the container beyond the maximum accepted temperature for the container, and in that the sum of ti is between 1 and 7 minutes, preferably between 1 min 30 sec and 5 minutes, and more preferably between 2 and 4 minutes.

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Sassenage, France

Thomas Vinard