A large experimental apparatus for measuring thermal conductance of LH2 storage tank insulations Original Research Article

In the Japanese hydrogen project, WE-NET (World Energy Net Work), the conceptual design of the large mass liquid hydrogen storage systems for ground tanks and transportation, whose scales would reach to that of commercialized LNG (liquid national gas), has been studied. This study has concluded that the thermal insulation for a mass storage tank, providing the excellent thermal performance with the optimized strength, should be developed. In order to evaluate thermal conductance of various devised insulations, we have manufactured a large-scale experimental apparatus. This apparatus, which adopts a double guarded flat plate boil-off calorimeter method, can provide the thermal data needed for designing a full-scale tank. It would be possible to test various kinds of specimens with allowable dimensions: diameter 120 cm, thickness up to 30 cm. In the case of a rigid specimen contacting bottom surfaces of liquid hydrogen vessels, the good flatness of their bottom plates is desirable to reduce the thermal resistance between vessels and a specimen surface. This paper describes the abstract of the developed apparatus, its structural design and also the experimental results for verifying its structural design.