A Novel Composite Insulation System of Hollow Glass Microspheres and Multilayer Insulation with Self‐Evaporating Vapor Cooled Shield for Liquid Hydrogen Storage

Abstract

The efficient storage method of hydrogen energy is a major concern in its practical application. Compared with other hydrogen storage methods, liquid hydrogen (LH 2 ) storage has the advantages of high energy storage density and low storage pressure. However, the temperature of LH 2 is significantly lower than room temperature, and heat leakage causes it to evaporate continuously. Thus, an efficient thermal insulation technology is a key to LH 2 storage. Herein, based on the traditional multilayer insulation (MLI), a novel insulation system combining hollow glass microspheres (HGMs) that is not sensitive to vacuum with self‐evaporating vapor cooled shield (VCS) that can recover hydrogen cold‐energy is introduced and analyzed. Based on the layer‐by‐layer method, a thermodynamic calculation model is established, and related experimental verification is completed. The results show that the heat leakage of the proposed insulation system is decreased by 45% under high vacuum (10 −3 Pa) and 81% under low vacuum (1 Pa) compared with the traditional MLI. The influences of the VCS position, LH 2 storage pressure, hot boundary temperature, and vacuum on the thermal insulation performance of the composite thermal insulation system are also analyzed.