A Study on Gas Pressure Fluctuation Characteristics inside the Snubber and Pipe of Hydrogen

Abstract

Hydrogen fuel cell is a developing technology that allows great amount of electrical power to be obtained using a source of hydrogen gas. It is a proven environment-friendly potential future fuel. During compression of hydrogen gas in reciprocating compressor, pressure fluctuation is built up. The pressure fluctuation and its reduction by the snubber are studied in this experiment. For different motor frequencies, the input and output pressure amplitude varies from 0.228 kPa–2.081 kPa and 0.095 kPa–0.898 kPa. The pressure magnitudes are 101.451–105.172 kPa and 101.388–102.565 kPa for input and output of the snubber, respectively. The acryl snubber reduces0.796 kPa (57.31%) pressure amplitude on average with restoring its high pressure. Detail information about the pressure including the critical pressure zone inside the tube like snubber part and the whole system can be obtained by CFD.