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10,000PSI hydraulics are rapidly becoming cookie cutter commodity parts. Once you have the supply chain for all the little crap that nickles and dimes you the

10,000PSI hydraulics are rapidly becoming cookie cutter commodity parts. Once you have the supply chain for all the little crap that nickles and dimes you the rest is a lot cheaper. Having industry expertise at working at those pressures really has a huge multiplier effect on everything else. Building a system to plumb stuff from A to B at a pressure nobody uses is expensive. Calling up a sales rep and asking for slightly modifications on an existing product line so it can be used with your product is pennies by comparison.

snypher 5y ago
I can picture how the conversation would go. There's some pretty big differences between hydrogen and hydraulic fluid, probably to the point of whole component redesign. The little crap here (springs and o-rings) would be completely different.
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  You're not wrong but "can you make hose X with material Y" or "can I get valve body P with spring rate Q" is a hell of a lot better than "we need custom hoses" or "is this casting good to 10kpsi?".
  - simcop2387 5y ago
    The big problem with hydrogen is just how small it is. It likes to leach through stuff hold just about everything else. You very well might need custom hoses, custom seals, and custom materials for the castings just to safely store it at 10kpsi. It'll leak through solid steel containers that will otherwise hold helium fine.
    - HPsquared 5y ago
      Even worse than simply leaking, hydrogen can diffuse into the crystal structure of metals and cause havoc with the material properties. It's definitely not as friendly as hydraulic oil.
      - jacquesm 5y ago
        Exactly. This is a major problem with anything hydrogen related, especially if it has an expected lifespan of a decade+.
        m4rtink 5y ago
        And once it gets the thing all brittle and it starts leaking, you won't see it burn as it produces a lot of IR but almost no visible light.
baybal2 5y ago
How many people would be ready to drive a hydrogen bomb?
- throwaway0a5e 5y ago
  Do you ride on a CNG city bus?
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Much higher activation energy, not to be compared.
  - hydrogtehd 5y ago
    There’s no comparison in the risk of methane vs. H2. The only thing H2 has going for it, safety wise, is that it disperses very quickly. Otherwise methane is insanely safe, safer in all regards except pressurization than gasoline.
- goodpoint 5y ago
  More than a gasoline bomb, hopefully. Gasoline is more dangerous.
  - baybal2 5y ago
    Few kg of hydrogen are surely more dangerous than 50 kg of gasoline.
    - MayeulC 5y ago
      120 MJ/kg for H2 vs 46 MJ/kg for gasoline. Both are explosive, so I think (I'm no authority on this) we can compare those values directly, without taking into account the storage pressure. Source: https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2005/MichelleFung.shtml https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2005/MichelleFung.shtml https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/ArthurGolnik.shtml https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/ArthurGolnik.shtml
JimTheMan 5y ago
Compressed liquid systems don't explode so much, they tend to be way less catastrophic as they are a liquid. (The burst, or they spray out fluid) Gas compressed things EXPLODE, or things that become gas on de-pressure. 10,000 psi is an insane pressure to have in a tank. Gas transmission pipelines operate at 1450 psi... It's not an apples and oranges comparison. In the O&G industry we default to hydrotesting over pneumatic testing in basically all situations.

snypher 5y ago

I can picture how the conversation would go. There's some pretty big differences between hydrogen and hydraulic fluid, probably to the point of whole component redesign. The little crap here (springs and o-rings) would be completely different.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
You're not wrong but "can you make hose X with material Y" or "can I get valve body P with spring rate Q" is a hell of a lot better than "we need custom hoses" or "is this casting good to 10kpsi?".
- simcop2387 5y ago
  The big problem with hydrogen is just how small it is. It likes to leach through stuff hold just about everything else. You very well might need custom hoses, custom seals, and custom materials for the castings just to safely store it at 10kpsi. It'll leak through solid steel containers that will otherwise hold helium fine.
  - HPsquared 5y ago
    Even worse than simply leaking, hydrogen can diffuse into the crystal structure of metals and cause havoc with the material properties. It's definitely not as friendly as hydraulic oil.
    - jacquesm 5y ago
      Exactly. This is a major problem with anything hydrogen related, especially if it has an expected lifespan of a decade+.
      - m4rtink 5y ago
        And once it gets the thing all brittle and it starts leaking, you won't see it burn as it produces a lot of IR but almost no visible light.

baybal2 5y ago

How many people would be ready to drive a hydrogen bomb?

throwaway0a5e 5y ago
Do you ride on a CNG city bus?
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Much higher activation energy, not to be compared.
- hydrogtehd 5y ago
  There’s no comparison in the risk of methane vs. H2. The only thing H2 has going for it, safety wise, is that it disperses very quickly. Otherwise methane is insanely safe, safer in all regards except pressurization than gasoline.
goodpoint 5y ago
More than a gasoline bomb, hopefully. Gasoline is more dangerous.
- baybal2 5y ago
  Few kg of hydrogen are surely more dangerous than 50 kg of gasoline.
  - MayeulC 5y ago
    120 MJ/kg for H2 vs 46 MJ/kg for gasoline. Both are explosive, so I think (I'm no authority on this) we can compare those values directly, without taking into account the storage pressure. Source: https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2005/MichelleFung.shtml https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2005/MichelleFung.shtml https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/ArthurGolnik.shtml https://hypertextbook.com/facts/2003/ArthurGolnik.shtml

JimTheMan 5y ago

Compressed liquid systems don't explode so much, they tend to be way less catastrophic as they are a liquid. (The burst, or they spray out fluid) Gas compressed things EXPLODE, or things that become gas on de-pressure. 10,000 psi is an insane pressure to have in a tank. Gas transmission pipelines operate at 1450 psi... It's not an apples and oranges comparison. In the O&G industry we default to hydrotesting over pneumatic testing in basically all situations.