Studying Transmission of Fuel Storage Bank to NGV Cylinder in CNG Fast Filling Station

Studying Transmission of Fuel

Mahdi Deymi-Dashtebayaz
meh_deimi@yahoo.com
Shahrood University of Technology
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Shahrood, Iran
Mahmood Farzaneh Gord
mahmood.farzaneh@yahoo.co.uk
Shahrood University of Technology
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Shahrood, Iran
Hamid Reza Rahbari
rahbarihamidreza@yahoo.com
Shahrood University of Technology
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Shahrood, Iran
Storage Bank to NGV Cylinder in CNG
Fast Filling Station
The exact modeling of the fast-fill process of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueled
storage bank occurring to Compressed Natural Gas Vehicle (NGV) cylinders is an
unintelligible process, and should be thoroughly studied. In this paper, a theoretical model
based on mass balance and thermodynamic laws has been developed to study dynamic fast
filling process of CNG storage bank to vehicle’s (NGV) cylinder. Because Methane
occupies a large percentage (between 70% to 99%) of natural gas, for the sake of
simplicity it is assumed that Methane is the only substance in Natural gas and
thermodynamic properties table has been employed for case of real gas model based on
methane. For modeling the heat transfer, the system has been treated as an adiabatic lump
one. The result shows the initial pressure of storage bank has a big effect on the storage
bank volume for bringing up the NGV cylinder to its target pressure (20 MPa). The
storage bank volumes required for bringing up the NGV cylinder to its final (target)
pressure (20 MPa) for various initial storage bank pressure, like 20.8 MPa (RPS = 1.04),
23 MPa (RPS = 1.15) and 25 MPa (RPS = 1.25) are respectively 22, 6 and 4 times the
NGV cylinder volume. It is noted that RPS is the ratio of storage bank pressure (PS) to
target pressure (PT) (In this research is 20 MPa). The results also showed that ambient
temperature has a big effect on refueling process, chiefly on final NGV cylinder and
storage bank conditions.
Keywords: compressed natural gas, NGV cylinder, storage bank, fast filling process,
thermodynamic analysis, entropy generation

Introduction1
Natural gas is an attractive fuel for vehicles because it is a
relatively clean-burning fuel compared with gasoline (Egúsquiza et
al., 2009). Natural gas as fuel is used in different vehicles that
include: passenger cars, heavy-duty trucks, garbage trucks and
buses. Especially for urban vehicles, natural gas is an
environmentally friendly fuel (Tilagone et al., 2006). Use of natural
gas vehicles (NGVs) began in Italy in mid-1930. In particular, after
the energy crisis in 1970, the NGVs were rapidly developed by the
governments of developed countries. In Iran the numbers of NGVs
and CNG stations have been estimated to be around 2.6 million
vehicles and 1700 fast refueling stations at the end of 2010 and are
growing rapidly (NIOPC website).
The natural gas vehicles (NGV) usually receive natural gas from
high pressure storage bank at the refueling stations during filling.
The NGV cylinders encountered a rise in in-cylinder temperature
during the filling due to complex compression and mixing
processes. This temperature rise reduces the density of the gas in the
cylinder, resulting in an under-filled cylinder, relative to its rated
specification. If this temperature rise is not compensated for in the
fuelling station dispenser, by transiently over-pressurizing the
cylinder, the vehicle user will experience a reduced driving range.
The capacity of NGV cylinder is a critical subject to the wide
outspread marketing of these alternate fuelled vehicles. CNG is
dispensed to a NGV through a process known as the fast fill
process, since it is completed in less than five minutes. Under-
filling of NGV cylinders could befall at the fuelling stations, at
ambient temperatures greater than 30°C. The resulting reduced
driving range of the vehicle is an important drawback which the gas
industry is trying to dominate, without resorting to unnecessarily
high fuelling station pressures, or by applying extensive over-
pressurization of the NGV cylinder during the fuelling operation.
Undercharged storage cylinders are a result of the elevated
temperature which occurs in the NGV cylinder, due to compression
and other processes.
The NGV industry has made excellent advancements in the
industry to provide a system to refuel a NGV comparable to that of
Paper received 24 November 2011. Paper accepted 17 February 2012
Technical Editor: Luís Fernando Silva
a gasoline dispenser. The problem with the long refueling time has
been remedied, for the most part, to be comparable to the fill time
(< 5 min) taken to fill a gasoline powered automobile. This fill time
can be referred to as a fast fill or rapid charge.
There have been limited researches in the field of filling
process modeling in literatures. In the first researches Kountz
(1997) modeled fast refueling process of a NGV cylinder based on
first law of thermodynamics. He developed a computer program to
model fast refueling process for a single reservoir. Kountz et al.
(1998a, 1998b, 1998c) have also developed a CNG dispenser
control program that ensures integrate refueling of NGV cylinders
under a fast fill scenario. The researchers are also under way to
model fast filling of hydrogen-based fuelling infrastructure,
including researches of Liss and Richards (2002), Liss et al. (2003)
and Newhouse and Liss (1999), who have studied fast filling of the
hydrogen cylinder experimentally. They have reported a high
temperature increase in the cylinder pending the process.
A few researches based on experimental studies were also
carried out to study fast filling of the NGV cylinder, including work
of Thomas and Goulding (2002) and Shiply (2003). He derived that
ambient temperature variation can have an effect on the CNG fast
fill process. He also concluded that the test cylinder was under-
filled every time it was rapidly recharged.
Farzaneh-Gord et al. (2007) and Farzaneh-Gord (2008a) have
also modeled fast filling process. They developed a computer
program based on the Peng-Robinson state equation and methane
properties table for single reservoir. They studied effects of ambient
temperature and initial cylinder pressure on final cylinder
conditions. In another study, Farzaneh-Gord et al. (2008b)
presented thermodynamics analysis of cascade storage bank
refueling process of NGV cylinders. The results of this research
indicated that ambient temperature has a big effect on filling
process and final NGV cylinder conditions.
Farzaneh-Gord et al. (2011) have employed a theoretical
analysis to study effects of buffer and cascade storage banks on
performance of a CNG fuelling station. It is found that the filling
time required for bringing up the NGV onboard cylinder to its final
pressure in the buffer storage system is about 66% less than the
cascade storage bank. The charged mass for cascade bank is about
80% of the buffer bank which gives an advantage to buffer bank

J. of the Braz. Soc. of Mech. Sci. & Eng. Copyright  2012 by ABCM October-December 2012, Vol. XXXIV, No. 4 / 429