Best-In-Class
Conformable Compressed Natural Gas Tank REL Inc., Calumet, Michigan, and Eck Industries, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Material: 7075 aluminum. Process: Low pressure casting. Weight: 71.4 lbs. Dimensions: 11.25 x 11.25 x 20.25 in. (quarter-
scale model). Application: Storage of compressed natural gas on automobiles and trucks.
• T is conformable tank can store 20-25% more com- pressed natural gas than a cylinder due to better use of the allowable packaging space.
• To store high pressure without a spherical or cylin- drical shape, the inner structure of the vessel must carry the load, so REL designed the tank using the Schwartz P-Surface cell design. T e cell walls act as struts and c
L teamed with Ec
uts and carry a tensile load, keeping the tank intact. • T e tank operates at 3,600 psi yet must withstand a burst of pressur cyclical loads.
essure of 8,100 psi and tens of thousands of • REL teamed with Eck Industries to cast 7075 aluminum using
printed sand corinted sand cores and fi xed walls coated with a proprietary thermal barrier technology, fi lled on a low pressure casting machine.
26 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | May/Jun 2015
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