H2Safety@BAM Safe and reliable hydrogen filling stations

A key factor for the widespread acceptance of hydrogen-based mobility is the availability of filling stations that operate reliably, safely, and efficiently. A digital quality infrastructure (QI) and modern monitoring concepts ensure the safety and reliability of hydrogen fueling stations and contribute to their economic efficiency. The pilot project involves setting up a hydrogen filling station as a living lab that is fully digitally networked and thus provides the IT/OT infrastructure needed to test the latest digital concepts and tools in the field of QI. Representing the overall system of a hydrogen infrastructure with special requirements in terms of safety and quality, we are researching and developing digitally supported solutions for a new level of quality assurance. The living lab also offers a unique opportunity for industry, SMEs, and start-ups to test newly developed, digitally oriented products on a real H2 infrastructure.

Measures

• Mapping of digital processes along the entire value chain of a filling station
• Sensor-based methods for quality-assured data collection and evaluation
• Establishment of a data infrastructure
• Development of a digital twin
• Digital process monitoring (online monitoring) of safety in use
• Development and testing of digital structural elements of QI, in particular the QI cloud and digital certificates
• Development of predictive maintenance procedures for reliable health and aging monitoring
• Use of an asset administration shell as a QI tool

Goals

• Optimization of maintenance cycles and minimization of downtime
• Increase in operational safety through early identification of critical conditions in the overall system
• Development of reliable quality and safety standards
• Digitally supported risk assessment and conformity assessment
• Introduction of a continuous digital documentation chain for components and the entire system

Components of the living lab

The living lab is supplied with hydrogen via an electrolyzer that is powered by green electricity from its own local photovoltaic system, supplemented by deliveries of green hydrogen if necessary. The actual filling station consists of a compressor, buffer storage tanks, gas coolers, and dispensers for supplying hydrogen to a vehicle. The recipient is an H2 car (FCEV) with hydrogen fuel cells. The operating data collected during a refueling process is collected, processed, supplemented with external metadata, and made available for the development of models and digital twins.
Process control technology and digital twin

An important aspect is the integration of the process control technology of the real-world laboratory and other sensors on a hardware platform installed on site. Current concepts from the process industry (e.g., NAMUR Open Architecture) are used for this purpose. The data obtained is stored digitally together with models (digital twin) so that it can be used to generate further information, update the models, and re-parameterize the hardware. The subproject is the link between the hardware of the real-world laboratory and the trustworthy provision of data at the interface to a QI data room.

Digital sensor technology

Another overarching goal is to optimize and validate digital hydrogen filling station management using sensor technologies. To this end, sensor networks with digitally supported evaluation strategies are to be designed to intelligently monitor the physical and chemical parameters at and in plants comprehensively and efficiently, as well as to reliably detect malfunctions. Specific work steps include the application of sensor technology (gas sensors, pressure gauges, and thermometers) and its digital integration into the filling station management system, as well as validation under real operating conditions. The measurement results obtained, as well as the measurement uncertainties, histories, and procedures, are processed in digital form, stored, and continuously incorporated into the AI-based data evaluation. The use of digital calibration certificates (DCC) is being tested and serves to trace the measured variables back to a digital QI.

Structural Health Monitoring

The use of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) methods will be demonstrated in the real-world laboratory, and a selection of different SHM methods will provide measurements during the operation of the system. At the same time, operational and environmental data will be recorded to ensure fully automated and permanent monitoring of the health of selected components, such as pressure vessels or pipelines. The combined evaluation of this data will allow conclusions to be drawn about the integrity of the monitored components. The permanent availability of measuring and test results in digital form opens up the possibility of making predictions about the further progression of damage, even taking into account future stresses on the facility. The project is developing concepts that enable the reliable prediction of maintenance times and the remaining lifespan of facilities and facility components with the help of the latest methods in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Regulations, codes, and standards

The hands-on, application-oriented approach allows us to systematically identify safety and quality requirements for hydrogen refueling stations and their ecosystems, pass them on to standardization bodies, and prepare for the introduction of digital quality assurance methods in regulations, codes, and standards. The focus is on two topics: the introduction of digital quality assurance methods for process-related approaches in conformity assessment using the example of a hydrogen refueling station as a comprehensive system and in regulatory requirements for pressure vessels. The newly standardized digital quality assurance methods can thus serve as the basis for a new digitally supported risk assessment and conformity assessment.
The hydrogen filling station living lab is part of the BAM's H2Safety@BAM competence center for hydrogen.