Fabrication of Metallic Liners for Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels

Julho 2013

This paper presents a new manufacturing process for producing metallic liners for composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) that are commonly utilized in spacecraft. The process combines an innovative tube forming operation, which is capable of shaping commercial tubes into seamless metallic liners in a single stroke of a press, with a sequence of post-forming operations comprising machining, joining by crimping and welding, and gas tightness testing by means of non-destructive examination. The presentation focuses on the manufacturing process as a whole, but tube forming in particular, and was written with the objective of providing details of the deformation mechanics, formability limits and tooling system of the tube forming operation. Different types of COPVs liners with 120 mm diameter are included in the presentation to illustrate the effectiveness and flexibility of the tube forming operation in meeting the specific requirements of aerospace applications concerning storage capacity and available shapes. The process running under steady-state production conditions is expected to reduce the overall production costs of COPVs by roughly one third.

Autores da comunidade :

• 

  L

  Luís Manuel Mendonça Alves

  ist13976

  Afiliações e fontes

  IST > LAETA

  Laboratório Associado de Energia, Transportes e Aeronáutica

  IST > IDMEC

  Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica

  IST > DEM

  Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica

  De: cienciavitae

  ID: 3276336

• 

  P

  Paulo António Firme Martins

  ist12470

  Afiliações e fontes

  IST > LAETA

  Laboratório Associado de Energia, Transportes e Aeronáutica

  IST > IDMEC

  Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica

  IST > DEM

  Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica

International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology

2671

2680

67

9-12

mechanical-engineering - Engenharia Mecânica

eng - Inglês