This research presents a study of transient heat transfer
phenomena taking place between a storage cylinder and the incoming gas during the cylinder charging process. A theoretical model of convective heat transfer between the gas and the cylinder is described. Experiments with the high pressure gas (AP=14.5-16.5MPa) charging process to a vehicle supply tank were carried out. For reasons of safety and comparison with other work, air was used instead of Natural Gas. The whole charging process can be divided
into three phases: forced convection, free convection and
conduction. The experimental results were used to develop empirical equations for convection between the gas and the tank for both the forced and free convection phases. In addition, a simulation method was developed to predict the heat transfer parameters appropriate to the charging process and the predictions correspond well with the
experimental results.