Hmmm, 90 cubic metres. That's roughly 3000 cubic feet. An aluminium SCUBA tank holds 80 cubic feet at 3000 psi. Call it the equivalent of 35 tanks. That's a lot. Doubling or tripling the pressure would bring it down to a manageble size, but as both a SCUBA diver and welder, 3000 psi scares me. Doubling or tripling it would make it really dangerous if something caused the tank to fail.
Interesting idea, but I would like to see much more detailed numbers from the designers.
Tank failure is a worry, but a burst valve would solve a lot of the problems. However, it wouldn't fix collisions. One advantage of gasoline/diesel is that it is impact stable. (outside of action-movie-land, of course)
In short, to get space craft up cheaper, and to get the hydrogen economy off the ground there has been some work on storing gas under pressure.
Heck you can even by a 4500 psi spun carbon fiber tank on Amazon for your paint ball, or SWAT team crowd control pleasure.
If air bags can deploy in a crash, so could any emergency dump facility. Unlike scuba or welding, the tanks should hopefully be somewhat removed and shielded from the people and hopefully not filled with flammable gases.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-03-20 03:21 am (UTC)Interesting idea, but I would like to see much more detailed numbers from the designers.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-20 04:23 am (UTC)10,000 psi tanks..
Date: 2007-03-20 07:22 am (UTC)http://www1.eere.energy.gov/hydrogenandfuelcells/pdfs/merit03/44_quantum_neel_shirosh.pdf
In short, to get space craft up cheaper, and to get the hydrogen economy off the ground there has been some work on storing gas under pressure.
Heck you can even by a 4500 psi spun carbon fiber tank on Amazon for your paint ball, or SWAT team crowd control pleasure.
If air bags can deploy in a crash, so could any emergency dump facility. Unlike scuba or welding, the tanks should hopefully be somewhat removed and shielded from the people and hopefully not filled with flammable gases.