On February 24 Kobe Steel developed “H2 Station Unit HyAC mini of Package Type” which realized downsizing to 50% of the conventional system through integration of the principal equipment such as compressor, refrigerator and accumulator which had so far been installed individually. Kobe is planning to receive orders from April. The total construction cost of an H2 station will be controlled down to about 350 million yen.

Kobe Steel has accomplished integration of compressor, refrigerator, pressure accumulator, control panel and other equipment, taking advantage of its own selection know-how of equipment obtained through its experiences of supply to H2 stations for demonstration as well as the compact design technology which had been fostered in the field of its multi-purpose compression business.

The station units can meet flexibly such installation environments as busy streets, narrow areas or combined stations with gas stations. The planned size of installation is W4.0× D3.2×H4.7m, and the compressor is a collective pressurizing type with a suction pressure of 0.7MPa, a discharge pressure of 82MPa and a flow rate of 320N, while the accumulator employs a three-bank system of 82MPa composite vessel and a supply method by differential pressure filling. The unit deals with hydrogen compression and accumulation for six FCV vehicles per hour, and the accumulator is addable to bring a high expandability.