| Research project: | HyPLANT100 - Development of optimized and automated processes and standards for the construction of large-scale water electrolyzers |  | |
| Research area: | Hydrogen infrastructure, assembly, quality assurance | ||
| Funded by: | Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung - H2Giga | ||
| In collaboration with: |
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| Start of the project: | April 2021 | ||
| End of the project | April 2025 |
Research on production systems for the large-scale production of green hydrogen
Green hydrogen is an environmentally friendly solution for replacing fossil fuels in a wide range of applications in various industrial sectors. The gradual use of hydrogen therefore makes an important contribution to reducing CO2 emissions and thus achieving global and national climate targets. The demand for hydrogen in the course of the energy transition is estimated at more than one hundred million tons per year (H2Giga). The goal of the national hydrogen strategy is therefore to build 5 gigawatts of electrolysis capacity in Germany by 2030 and to establish Germany as a technology pioneer in this fast-growing international industry. These challenges are now to be successfully met with the BMBF's flagship project H2Giga.
H2Giga is one of the three connected hydrogen lead projects of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). With over 130 participating institutions from business and science, organized in almost 30 independently working associations, H2Giga will develop the production of green hydrogen on an industrial scale. The project is being funded by the BMBF with a volume of around 500 million euros in order to establish a hydrogen economy in the Federal Republic of Germany. The hydrogen flagship projects represent a major contribution to the implementation of the national hydrogen strategy and represent a significant step towards a sustainable energy system.
The HyPLANT100 project is focused with the development of optimized and automated processes and standards for the development of large-scale electrolysis capacities in order to achieve the necessary hydrogen production volumes. HyPLANT100 thus closes the gap in the H2Giga lead project from the development and production of basic electrolysis units - the smallest components - to the final, operational, large-scale electrolyzer system at the installation site. The basic electrolysis units are first assembled in prefabrication with additional peripherals to form modular assemblies (skids). The skids are subsequently combined on the construction site to establish a combined system. Modularization is intended to make the configuration of the system (e.g. overall performance, boundary conditions for installation and operation, etc.) mutually variable. This allows site requirements to be met in accordance with demand. This is accompanied by the development of technology-neutral adaptations and standards for components, processes and interfaces in order to reduce effort and expense. An associated goal is the digitalization and intelligent support of assembly processes, from pre-assembly of the skids to installation on the construction site, using intelligent sensor technology, control systems and mobile robotics. The progress and quality information is to be documented automatically. In addition, innovative and adapted training concepts are derived from the developed processes.
The IFPT's sub-project is addressing the control technology, which is of central importance in this context for guaranteeing quality and safety. Further subtasks are the development of the communication structure, progress monitoring and the process image derived from this, the selection and integration of the necessary sensor technology, as well as the services based on the process image for the concrete implementation of quality assurance.
Developing control technologies is the main objective of the IFPT, in line with the structure shown in the figure below:
Figure 1: Overview of the orchestration system and its subcomponents for the assembly of hydrogen elctrolyzers
The process image is the exclusive and integral cloud service of the process structure in which the current status of the assembly process is mapped. Further optional services, such as documentation, can be build on top of this image. The information stream is an independent system, but must also be orchestrated via the process control and is considered a fundamental component. The other cloud services and the sensor solutions in hardware and software, unless they are used for quality assurance, are developed or implemented by project partners, including the associated information procurement and processing. The process control orchestrates only higher-value information on the input and output side, such as complete instructions or logical context information. The system is optimized for construction site-oriented assembly and can be used equally indoors and outdoors, whereby the orchestration of people is more relevant in outdoor applications. With an identical structure, collaborative logistics processes can also be integrated if the necessary cloud services are made available.
A work goal closely linked to process control is the development of progress monitoring of the entire assembly process. Based on the incoming sensor information, the feedback on the completion of manual, automatic or combined process steps and the localization of components, a digital process image should be made possible for comparison with the previously created process flow.
Another work objective that goes beyond simple progress monitoring is the development of quality assurance processes. These should be carried out after the completion of assembly operations by means of intermediate and final inspections and ensure that all operations have been carried out with the required quality. Efficient leakage inspections contribute in particular to increasing safety in this context.
The final work objective is the demonstration of selected sub-processes in the form of a functional demonstrator. The sub-components and process steps developed by the IFPT are combined with those of participating cooperation partners. Assembly and testing processes are to be demonstrated using the example of a electrolyzer mockup.
The goals presented mark elementary components of the group's goal of developing automated processes for the construction of large-scale electrolyzers and thus also make a decisive contribution to the goals of the H2Giga platform.
| Type of work | Topic | Start | Tender |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor's, study or master's thesis | Designing automated testing processes for assembling scalable hydrogen production units | from now on | |
| Bachelor's, study or master's thesis | Design of an augmented reality process control for a manual leakage investigation of hydrogen systems using tracking solutions | from now on | |
| Bachelor or study work | Digitization concept for quality assurance in the production of hydrogen electrolysers | from now on |
Job advertisements for student assistants:
| Topic | Start | Tender |
|---|---|---|
Quality assurance for the production of green hydrogen | from now on |
Publications:
2022 - Grünen Wasserstoff schnell produzieren; In: Industrial Production 6/2022
Contact at the institute: Lukas Büsch, Christian Masuhr.