Safety, Codes & Standards

The goal of the Safety subprogram is to understand, develop, and promote the practices that will ensure the safe handling, storage, and use of hydrogen. By promoting hydrogen safety procedures, supporting a research program, and developing information resources, the Safety subprogram seeks to help form the foundation for the safe use of hydrogen as an energy carrier, both now and in the future. A critical objective of this effort is to develop hydrogen leak detection technologies, such as sensors, by 2012.

In FY 2007, ORNL began an effort directed toward the development of cost-effective hydrogen sensors. This effort will develop an optical sensing method for use in hydrogen delivery and storage systems. 

For more information on DOE Hydrogen Production see the Multi-Year Research, Development, and Demonstration Plan.

Project:

• Optical Hydrogen Sensor for H₂ Storage Systems - Bart Smith

Contact:

Dave Stinton, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 865-574-4556, stintondp@ornl.gov

Optical Hydrogen Sensor for H₂ Storage Systems

The objective of this project is to investigate optical hydrogen sensing techniques with respect to their potential for achieving the goals for hydrogen safety sensors.  The research plan is directed at selecting the most promising of three sensing techniques for prototype development and evaluation.  The methods are (1) optically driven resonant hydrogen dissociation and detection, (2) fiber-optic based photoluminescence in rate-earth-doped nanocrystalline phosphors, and (3) optical detection of physisorbed hydrogen on polymer-film cantilever arrays.  The ultimate objective is to demonstrate that the prototype sensor can be developed into a commercial sensor system that overcomes the limitations of the current state-of-the-art hydrogen detectors.

These sensing methods do not require the use of noble metals such as palladium. Optical sensors are inexpensive to manufacture, extremely accurate, and have rapid response and recovery times.  Furthermore, many aspects of the underlying technology are widespread in consumer electronics and telecommunications.  The sensors will be resistant to contaminants, accurate and reliable at low concentrations of hydrogen, and capable of being integrated into H₂ storage systems such as high-pressure tanks.

Project Contact:

Bart Smith, 865-574-2196, smithdb@ornl.gov

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