Simulation of pre-cooling in a high pressure hydrogen refueling station for operation optimization

Pre-cooling for refueling high-pressure hydrogen not only avoids safety hazards but also extends the driving range of vehicles. In this paper, a simulation model for hydrogen refueling with a compact heat exchanger is developed to analyze the dynamic process in HRS with three-stage storage tanks. According to the simulated results, the hydrogen temperature at the heat exchanger's outlet is greatly influenced by the mass flow rate and the inlet temperature. The pre-cooling duration is a feasible method to save energy. Moreover, optimization discussions about the pre-cooling temperature and the pre-cooling duration have been carried out for the sake of the low final gas temperature, high SOC, and minimum energy consumption. If the ambient temperature decreases by 10 K, the optimal pre-cooling temperature could be adjusted to increase by 4 K. And if the initial vessel pressure increases by 2 MPa, the optimal pre-cooling duration could be shortened by 10 s. © 2024