SAE J2579 for Vehicular Hydrogen Systems to be Published in January
Glenn Schleffler, President, GWS Solutions of Tolland
 The SAE FCV Safety Working Group has been addressing fuel cell vehicle (FCV) safety for over 8 years. The initial document produced by the working group was SAE J2578 in 2002. SAE J2578 has been valuable to FCV development with regard to the identification of hazards and the definition of countermeasures to mitigate these hazards such that FCVs can be operated in the same manner as conventional gasoline internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered vehicles.
The SAE FCV Safety Working Group has now produced another document, SAE J2579, for vehicular hydrogen systems. The document was developed in cooperation with other organizations such as CSA America and Japanese Automobile Research Institute (JARI) to address long-term real-world system safety while still facilitating rapid advances by the industry.
While SAE J2579 applies to all types of hydrogen storage and handling systems, the initial focus of this document is compressed hydrogen storage, as most FCVs currently use this form of storage. Systems-level, performance-based requirements have been established for components that form the primary pressure boundary for the stored compressed hydrogen including the thermally-activated pressure relief devices (PRDs), the fuel shutoff, and the fill check valve in addition to the hydrogen container(s) themselves.
SAE J2579 passed the balloting and affirmation process as a Technical information Report (TIR) on January 3, 2008 and is expected to be published by mid-January.
The original version of SAE J2579 was published as a Technical Information Report (TIR) to provide opportunity for verification of test methodologies. The test methodologies are being evaluated globally by development partners such as the JARI, automobile and equipment manufacturers, and test laboratories using a combination of private and government funding. In North America, the US Department of Energy (DOE) is funding a test program to demonstrate the practicality and verify the appropriateness of the new systems-level, performance-based test methodologies. It is envisioned that SAE J2579 will be upgraded to reflect results of verification activities and expanded to address other types of hydrogen storage before being re-balloted and published in a couple years as a Recommended Practice.
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