Plate heat exchangers and hydrogen. Everybody’s talking about hydrogen ultimately, in every field. That’s because hydrogen could be a valid powertrain and energy source for the next sustainable future. Clearly we are speaking of green hydrogen.

And so let’s talk about cooling, heating, thermoregulation and thermostatation applications of hydrogen, usually cooling tasks, using plate heat exchangers.
The hydrogen molecule is a ‘wise’ one. It’s a very small molecule that can pass through anything, and so a very high care is required to ensure the sealing.

First of all, let’s say that usually hydrogen is treated at very low temperatures in order to ensure its storage, with very high pressure levels. Therefore, exchangers having a wide working temperature range are required and as well a large working pressure range. Typically these can be plate heat exchangers.
As seen before in other videos in our Tempco YouTube channel, the PCHE, printed circuit heat exchangers, made using the innovative diffusion bonding technology, are the ideal solutions for these kind of applications. Especially when pressures involved are very high.

But there is also a series of other applications that can be achieved with traditional plate heat exchangers, similar to the brazed plate exchangers type. Similar because in fact they need to have a bunch of peculiar characteristics in order to withstand higher pressures. In Tempco we offer a series of brazed plate exchangers employed for CO2 applications that can withstand 140 bar of working pressure level which are also very good for hydrogen technologies. Clearly, employed at certain pressure and temperature levels.

Surely the subject deserves a more in depth and broader discussion, but we want to trigger your comments to see if there is an interest in it, in order to go more in depth even discussing the various types of heat exchangers.