Complete Hydrogen Storage System by ISRU
dc.contributor.author | Schubert, Peter J. | |
dc.contributor.department | Electrical and Computer Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology | en_US |
dc.date.accessioned | 2019-07-12T19:35:11Z | |
dc.date.available | 2019-07-12T19:35:11Z | |
dc.date.issued | 2018 | |
dc.description.abstract | New technologies make it possible to build in space a complete hydrogen storage system using ISRU methods and techniques. Hydrogen can be stored in a solid-state form on the surface atoms of high surface area matrices such as those of porous silicon. Silicon is abundant in regolith and can be purified using a purely mechanical means which results in particulates in the scale range of tens of nanometers. Reagents used to porosify these nano-particles can be regenerated thermally to essentially eliminate the need for resupply from earth. Catalysts are needed to divide dihydrogen gas into atomic hydrogen for solid-state adsorption and to mediate the temperatures and pressures of charge and discharge into ranges easily achievable with simple equipment. Recent research has identified the utility of non-platinum group catalyst materials which are widespread on the moon. Rapid discharge, needed for propulsion, is possible with infra-red illumination at wavelengths which pass through pure silicon but are absorbed by the silicon-hydrogen bond. Such IR emitters can be fabricated by embossing of silica and additive manufacturing of metals. Control and power electronics can be fabricated using a patented process designed for space operations, and built on either silicon or silicon carbide substrates derived from regolith. Bringing these five technologies together for the first time allows a system which can be fed with moderate pressure gaseous hydrogen at moderate temperatures, stored for long durations with minimum loss, then released upon demand across a wide range of controllable rates. Such a system can displace the need for cryogenic hydrogen storage. Being suitable to bottom-up fabrication using only in-space materials makes this a “green” ISRU technology to store hydrogen for fuel cells, rocket engines, and chemical processes. | en_US |
dc.eprint.version | Author's manuscript | en_US |
dc.identifier.citation | Schubert, P. J. (2018). Complete Hydrogen Storage System by ISRU. In 2018 AIAA SPACE and Astronautics Forum and Exposition. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2018-5367 | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1805/19878 | |
dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
dc.publisher | AIAA | en_US |
dc.relation.isversionof | 10.2514/6.2018-5367 | en_US |
dc.relation.journal | 2018 AIAA SPACE and Astronautics Forum and Exposition | en_US |
dc.rights | Publisher Policy | en_US |
dc.source | Author | en_US |
dc.subject | insitu resource utilization | en_US |
dc.subject | complete hydrogen storage system | en_US |
dc.subject | space | en_US |
dc.title | Complete Hydrogen Storage System by ISRU | en_US |
dc.type | Conference proceedings | en_US |