DOE issues RFI for high-accuracy meters for hydrogen fueling equipment

11 August 2012

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Program has issued an RFI (DE-FOA-0000753) seeking feedback from interested stakeholders regarding the current and near-term status and availability of high-accuracy meters that can perform under hydrogen fueling conditions and meet measurement accuracy requirements.

The commercialization of hydrogen fueling stations remains one of the critical barriers to the widespread market penetration of fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). Hydrogen fueling equipment must meet industry measurement standards and be available to sell hydrogen fuel to the public by weight or volume for full commercialization of FCEVs.

Based on available information, commercially available meters are not capable of meeting the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST’s) Handbook 44 measurement accuracy requirements for hydrogen while being used under recommended fueling conditions, such as those in the SAE J2601 guidelines.

Accordingly, the Fuel Cell Technologies Program seeks information from stakeholders (including both users and manufacturers of hydrogen meters) regarding the status of meters that can meet the NIST accuracy requirements, while also performing under hydrogen fueling conditions such as those proposed in SAE J2601 guidelines.

Specifically, this RFI requests information for three (3) areas of interest:

1. Current meter status. The Fuel Cell Technologies Program seeks to identify the current status of meters capable of measuring hydrogen under the fueling conditions (such as those described in SAE TIR J2601). Conditions of particular interest are: hydrogen pressures near or above 10,000 psi; flow rates of 0.08 to 3.0 kg/min; ability to work in a temperature range of -40° C to 50° C; and materials compatible with hydrogen.

2. Accuracy status. The NIST Handbook 44 tentative code for hydrogen gas-measurement systems specifies an error tolerance of 1.5%. The Fuel Cell Technologies Program seeks information related to the likelihood of these accuracies being reached in the near-term for meters performing under the desired fueling conditions.

3. Market demand and availability. The Fuel Cell Technologies Program seeks input on the number of commercially available units that would satisfy near-term markets.