A new concept for a modular composite pressure vessel design

A new concept for modular composite pressure vessels was developed countering the disadvantages of the common monolithic design. The modular concept consists of a fiber reinforced thermoplastic cylinder and separately manufactured vessel heads which have to be joined adequately. The design choices and advantages of this concept are presented. The relevant design parameters of the vessel head, a thermoplastic composite shell, will be discussed based on a numerical parametric study carried out in a commercial finite element code. From this study design recommendation will be derived. Furthermore, the manufacturing concept of the vessel head will be described and first produced parts will be presented.