Journal of Petroleum Gas & Chemical Engineering
ISSN: 3069-2075 | DOI: 10.64030/3069-2075
Tatsuhiro Yamamoto
The global automotive industry has seen an increase in battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, which has been driven by incentives. Battery electric vehicles suffer from low-temperature performance issues and limited charging infrastructure, while fuel cell vehicles deliver high energy efficiency and zero tailpipe emissions, but they are hampered by sparse refueling networks and stringent safety requirements for pressurized hydrogen. Carbon fiber–reinforced composite tanks are produced using a dry-spinning process that has been stagnant since the 1990s. Current theoretical models treat solvent diffusion and
convective transport separately. These models rely on empirical transfer coefficients and semi-empirical correlations, which reduce predictive accuracy and reproducibility. Here, the authors present a unified three-dimensional numerical framework that integrates convective-diffusive transport with fiber structural dynamics on a single computational mesh. Validation simulations reveal the impact of fiber vibrations on solvent removal kinetics and thermal profiles, demonstrating the model’s ability to capture coupled transport and mechanical effects. The framework’s novelty does not stem from new governing equations, as these have been detailed in earlier studies, but rather from adapting hemodynamic analysis methods to dryspinning theory. Though the model is purely theoretical and awaits experimental validation, it provides patentable insights derived from industrial observations. Leveraging cross-disciplinary techniques promises to optimize high-throughput carbon fiber production and advance robust hydrogen tank design.