Hydrogen Containment Solutions for Safe, Leak-Tight Operations
In this testimonial video, learn how AVL, one of the world's leading mobility technology companies, addresses the challenges of safely containing and managing hydrogen in advanced mobility applications. As hydrogen adoption grows, maintaining leak-tight fluid systems and accurate performance measurements becomes critical for safety and reliability. Discover how AVL works with Swagelok to develop dependable hydrogen containment solutions using high-quality, hydrogen-compatible components, fluid system expertise, and specialized training. Hear how this partnership helps support hydrogen fuel cell and combustion engine testing while giving AVL and its customers confidence in the safety, performance, and long-term reliability of their hydrogen systems.
Video Transcript
The benefit of using hydrogen in mobile applications is definitely the density—the very high density of energy in a very small space. And that makes it attractive to store energy in mobile applications. Hydrogen does bear some challenges. It is a small-molecule gas, so the integrity of systems and the leak-tightness of systems are very critical and can be technically challenging.
AVL is the world’s largest independent company for the development, testing, and simulation of the automotive industry, and it is also active in other areas like the marine and aviation industries. Driven by a pioneering spirit, AVL provides concepts, methodologies, and testing solutions for every kind of application.
Our customers, who are major OEMs around the world, are faced with the challenge of converting their conventional combustion engine test benches to operate with hydrogen. Safety, i.e., the avoidance of gaseous chemicals, is the top priority. On the other hand, reproducible hydrogen consumption measurement is extremely important to be able to validate and certify the entire system of a hydrogen combustion engine or fuel cell. Our AVL HyTron™ is exactly the solution for this. It is the industrialized and integrated solution for secure gas supply for development activities on the test bench with integrated consumption measurement.
We had to be in a new market, in a new environment, with a new medium that so many of our customers just did not know. Where there was a certain respect for industry knowledge, it was simply important that we offer something that provides security, that is tight, and that we and our customers can always rely on being tight and remaining tight.
So Swagelok is our trusted partner in the area of hydrogen and hydrogen-fit components. We trust the partnership based on the expertise that Swagelok provides.
Especially regarding product quality, we have had extremely good experiences with Swagelok components. It is extremely important for us to have the connection point under control so as not to risk a leak in a remote test bench at a customer site.
The project collaboration with Swagelok Austria was very cooperative, friendly, and helpful. We attended some safety and security seminars at Swagelok Austria. Mainly, it was important to us that our production team was adequately trained. Especially with hydrogen, it is very important because one cannot see or feel any leakage. This gives everyone the confidence that we are building devices that are tight from the start and that pass the tests without any rework costs.
I have been working with Swagelok products for five years, starting when we began developing this project. The product has now been on the market for three years, is used worldwide, is transported all over the world, and of course, is subject to vibrations from shipping and the like. We simply know that we have a partner here who has provided us with consistently good quality over the past few years and who understands the subject of hydrogen, who understands that hydrogen is something different than any other gas.
