Composite Tank Reinforcements for Hydrogen Storage

Improving storage efficiency of hydrogen type 4 tanks with Fiber Patch Placement.

Spotlight papers on dome reinforcements Register for Cevotec’s webinar: Next-gen pressure vessels

Composite tanks

Lighter type 4 hydrogen tanks

Composite Hydrogen Tanks for FCEVs

Hydrogen-powered vehicles are becoming a key pillar of clean energy transportation, especially in sectors where battery technology limits. The electrification of powertrains expands, fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) offer a practical alternative for long-haul and heavy-duty transport – including hydrogen-powered trucks, buses, and trains. This shift supports the global transition to zero-emission mobility.

Hydrogen in (FCEVs) is usually stored in Type IV tanks . These lightweight storage systems operate between 300 and 700 bar nominal pressure, requiring a significant amount of carbon fiber reinforcement. On average, storing just 1 kg of hydrogen requires about 10 kg of carbon fiber, which makes the material one of the most cost-intensive components. In fact, carbon fiber can account for more than 50% of the total cost of a hydrogen storage system.

To support composite pressure vessel manufacturers to produce better tanks, Cevotec has launched an advanced solution to improve hydrogen storage efficiency. Our patented fiber placement technology reduces carbon fiber usage in Type IV hydrogen tanks by up to 15%, while ensuring the same mechanical performance and safety standards required for high-pressure hydrogen storage systems.

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Cevotec’s solution

Industrial Equipment for Dome Reinforcement in Composite Pressure Vessels

Cevotec offers automated Fiber Patch Placement (FPP) systems designed to reinforce the dome areas of composite pressure vessels and Type IV composite hydrogen tanks. These systems precisely apply carbon fiber patches to replace the high-angle helical (HAHL) layers typically used in filament winding processes. Unlike HAHL layers, the patches cover only the dome section and do not extend across the cylindrical part of the vessel. This targeted reinforcement reduces material usage, overall tank weight, and filament winding time, enabling manufacturers to achieve lower tank weight and faster production cycle times on the filament winding line.

Given that carbon fiber accounts for a significant portion of the tank’s total cost, the material savings enabled by FPP—up to 15% in hydrogen storage systems—represent a compelling business case for tank manufacturers, often delivering full investment payback within the first or second year of series production.

H2 tank reinforcement production gripper

Advantages

Your benefits with FPP

15% Material savings

20% Reduced cycle time

19% Storage efficiency improvement

15% Reduced weight

15% – 20% Cost savings

10 – 20 Months payback time

Values for illustration. The exact savings potential depends on the specific pressure tank.

How it works

Cevotec’s automated composite manufacturing solution, the SAMBA Fiber Patch Placement (FPP) system, places reinforcing fiber patches directly and precisely onto the dome area of the liner. This automated dome reinforcement step prepares the liner for the subsequent filament winding process, which uses less carbon fiber material and reduces production time.

Step 1

Automated dome reinforcement

Step 2

Filament winding

Result

Lighter composite tank

Automated dome reinforcement

Standard pressure vessel liners are strengthened using Cevotec’s SAMBA FPP System. Fiber patches are placed directly on the liner, in a fully automated, quality-controlled process.
The solution is easy to integrate into existing composite pressure vessel production lines, with automated liner handling and no need for post-processing.

Filament winding

Once reinforced, the liner enters the filament winding process (either wet or tow)
The winding pattern is optimized to reduce high-angle helical layers, thereby reducing fiber consumption and accelerating production.
This leads to faster composite tank manufacturing, higher throughput, and improved production ROI.

Lighter composite tank

Using Fiber Patch Placement technology to reinforce the dome area results in:

Significant material savings
Reduced tank weight
Lower overall manufacturing cost

All while maintaining required mechanical performance.

This optimization reduces material usage in the filament winding step, which remains a key method for hydrogen and composite tank production.

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Our hardware & software

The dedicated production system SAMBA Pro PV, optimized for the manufacturing of dome reinforcements, comes with the FPP-specific CAD-CAM software ARTIST STUDIO facilitating efficient as well as automated laminate and machine data creation.

System

SAMBA Pro PV

Software

ARTIST STUDIO

SAMBA Pro PV

Cevotec has conceptualized an FPP production system adjusted to the specific requirements of reinforcing composite tanks. Its flexible set-up fits a broad variety of tank sizes, and two robots apply patches simultaneously to both dome areas of a tank liner.

2x 6-axis robot, length variation possible
Sensor-controlled manufacturing process
Compatible with a variety of fiber materials
Flexible, automated offline programming with ARTIST STUDIO software
Manufacturing trials & demonstrator production on Cevotec lab system available

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ARTIST STUDIO

ARTIST STUDIO is the dedicated software suite for Fiber Patch Placement technology. It enables a full digital thread and supports engineers in the creation of patch laminates through technology-specific lay-up features. The integrated CAM module programs the SAMBA system robots fully automated, based on the designed laminate and a digital twin of the production system.

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Test your ideas & realize your vision!

Cevotec operates an FPP Competence Center near Munich for developing automated lay-up processes for composite structures. Besides the concept and design of pressure vessel reinforcements, we offer FE analysis of tank structures and the material procurement and confection if necessary. In our facilities, we can realize the layup of liner reinforcements for prototypes and test samples. This enables manufacturers to trial and validate their application in a risk-free project setting.

Furthermore, we offer business case calculations for your application and support you in the configuration of production systems customized to your special requirements.

Get in touch

“Fiber Patch Placement technology has the potential to revolutionize the composites industry and immediately caught our attention. We are glad to have partnered up with a dynamic technology leader as Cevotec. Their unique Fiber Patch Placement systems are bringing new automation options to Japanese industrials. In particular Cevotec’s approach to optimize the design of hydrogen pressure vessels is getting a lot of attention from our customers.”

Yuichiro Sasaki

Managing Director at Fuji Industries Co., Ltd.

Downloads and more information

dome reinforcements for composites tanks

Short intro: Composite tank reinforcements

Pioneering a novel approach for H2 tank production

Spotlight papers: Dome reinforcements – educational series

Download center

How to get started with Fiber Patch Placement?

More information?

Contact us to explore the benefits of Fiber Patch Placement for your specific component and production process. We offer a cost-free evaluation and economic analysis for your application with FPP. Looking forward to hearing from you.