Accelerating flammable gas cloud dissipation in hydrogen leakage during refilling hydrogen-powered vehicles via employing canopy fans

Mitigating the hydrogen leakage risk during the refilling process contributes to promoting the hydrogen energy commercialization. In this study, the high-pressure hydrogen leakage and dilution characteristics were analyzed with fans installed on the hydrogen refueling station canopy. Two fan conditions are involved: blowing upwards condition, and blowing downwards condition. The role of leakage pressure, atmospheric wind velocity, and fan conditions on the spatiotemporal evolutionary characteristics of flammable gas clouds (FGC) were discussed. Results showed that the hydrogen distribution is significantly impacted by wind velocity and fan blowing conditions when the hydrogen-powered vehicle is refueled. At a small leakage pressure, under windless conditions, employing fans contribute to the FGC dissipation. At windy conditions the fan blowing upwards does not accelerate the FGC dissipation, but rather increases the its volume and slows down its dilution. At a large leakage pressure, at small wind velocities, fan blowing upwards contributes to FGC dilution. However, at large wind velocities, fan blowing upwards is not effective in accelerating the hydrogen dilution. In all the scenarios, fan blowing downwards always helps to accelerate the hydrogen dilution. This study offers a pragmatic approach to effectively mitigate the risk of hydrogen leakage during the refilling process.