Image of Steelhead Composites Wheatridge Facility

Steelhead Composites Doubles Manufacturing Footprint to Meet Demand for Hydrogen Storage

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GOLDEN, Colo., Nov. 2, 2021 — Steelhead Composites, a global leader in hydrogen storage solutions, today announced expansion to a second facility in Wheat Ridge, Colorado primarily for manufacturing composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) for compressed hydrogen storage. The facility has been approved in the company’s ISO 9001, AS9100 and ISO 14001 quality and environmental management systems.

Various sizes and shapes for Steelhead Composites Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs) for hydrogen storage

Steelhead Composites manufactures pressure vessels in a variety of sizes, shapes, and pressures to meet their customer’s needs. These lightweight tanks are used in a variety of industries like space, aviation, ground transportation, marine, rail, medical, storage, and more. They are extremely durable and hold a variety of compressed gasses including hydrogen, natural gas, oxygen, helium, and more.

Using advanced, state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment, Steelhead has doubled annual capacity with new testing, automation, filament winding and plastic molding. Their in-house liner manufacturing of both polymeric lined (Type IV) and metal lined (Type III) vessels allows customers access to the technology to meet their permeation, robustness, cost, size, and weight targets.

“There are intrinsic benefits of both metal-lined and plastic lined pressure vessels based on per-use case,” says Andrew Coors, CEO at Steelhead Composites “and Steelhead is unique in the world of having in-house expertise in manufacturing both classes of liner types.”

As hydrogen demand has skyrocketed in response to global efforts to decarbonize, Steelhead invested heavily to provide the most advanced hydrogen storage solutions available.

“In the last year, we have received over 1,000 hydrogen-related storage inquiries from 36 countries and as these companies need storage solutions for their zero-emission technologies.” states Marisa Veni Sundy, Director of Business Development at Steelhead Composites. “This expansion is very exciting for me as it expands Steelhead’s role in the upcoming global energy transaction,” she continues.

Steelhead will continue to offer their class-leading pressure vessels and systems for the storage and transport of compressed natural gas and other pressurized gases. The company serves a wide variety of industries including automotive, aerospace, aviation, marine, rail, and others.

About Steelhead Composites
Established in 2012, Steelhead is dedicated to the manufacturing of lightweight, high-strength cylinders used for weight-sensitive energy and fuel storage applications. Specialties include lightweight COPVs for storage and transport of hydrogen, CNG, and other pressurized gases, bladder accumulators, metallic and polymeric liners, and various accessories. Steelhead offers a full array of technical services in vessel design, metal spinforming, filament winding, prototyping, and testing of high-pressure vessels.

For more information, visit https://steelheadcomposites.com/

Media Contact:
Marisa Sundy
msundy@steelheadcomposites.com

Image of Steelhead Composites Wheatridge Facility

Steelhead Composites manufactures pressure vessels in a variety of sizes, shapes, and pressures to meet their customer’s needs. These lightweight tanks are used in a variety of industries like space, aviation, ground transportation, marine, rail, medical, storage, and more. They are extremely durable and hold a variety of compressed gasses including hydrogen, natural gas, oxygen, helium, and more.

CSU, The Energy Institute, and Steelhead Composites team to create low-cost pressure boosting system for hydrogen filling stations

CSU, Energy Institute, and Steelhead Composites Boost Filling Pressures

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Colorado State University, The Energy Institute, and Steelhead Composites Team Develop Low-Cost Hydrogen Pressure Booster

CSU mechanical engineering seniors successfully prove feasibility of using pressure accumulators to boost filling pressures for more rapid fueling at hydrogen stations.

Golden, Colorado — February 7, 2023 — Steelhead Composites announces the successful completion of a bench-scale project with Colorado State University’s Mechanical Engineering Department and The Energy Institute to boost pressures at hydrogen filling stations. The team included CSU senior mechanical engineering students Jake Van Dorfy, Seth Dry, Barak Farhi, and Steelhead Composites intern, Sam Floyd.

Tasked with a feasibility study to increase filling speeds of hydrogen stations through innovative compression methods, the team designed, modeled, studied, and eventually built a bench-scale model of a pressure-boosting system using Steelhead Composites accumulators, an off-the-shelf hydraulic pump, and hydrogen gas from the CSU Energy Campus’s Powerhouse Hydrogen Lab.

Small-scale model tests were conducted with rigorous monitoring of material capabilities, gas flows and temperatures, and hydrogen safety protocols. Both CSU Department of Mechanical Engineering faculty and Steelhead managers considered the study and project a success as hydrogen gas was significantly boosted in pressure and stored from low pressure to 350 bar. The project yielded a close correlation between predicted and achieved results — increasing confidence for full-scale deployment.

As Steelhead continues to scale its hydrogen storage-related product offerings beyond type III and IV pressure vessels and break new ground into the emerging technology of hydrogen management, the results of the study proved a valuable element.

“This project achieved the ideal outcome: useful and valuable results for the sponsor achieved while affording meaningful professional engineering experience for the students,” says Dr. Daniel B. Olsen, Mechanical Engineering Professor at CSU’s Powerhouse Energy Campus. “This embodies the goals of the capstone project and we are grateful to Steelhead Composites for their sponsorship. We look forward to the opportunity to work together in the future,” adds Dr. Daniel Wise, Professor of Practice at CSU’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

“We’re excited to be on the forefront of clean, green energy technology, and to have other institutions who share our values right here in Colorado,” said Andrew Coors, CEO of Steelhead Composites. “Colorado State University is a leader in clean energy technology and we’re proud to be able to continue to work alongside them to make the world a better place,” he continued. Steelhead plans to continue the work in collaboration with CSU and other respected institutions.

About Steelhead Composites
Located in Golden, Colorado (USA), Steelhead Composites is dedicated to a cleaner earth through the manufacturing of lightweight, highly durable compressed hydrogen storage solutions. The company leads the industry in designing, manufacturing, testing, certification, and deploying hydrogen storage solutions for the clean energy transition. Steelhead hydrogen storage vessels and systems are certified and deployed in aerospace, stationary, mobility, and maritime applications. For more information, visit steelheadcomposites.com

CSU, The Energy Institute, and Steelhead Composites team to create low-cost pressure boosting system for hydrogen filling stations
About The Energy Institute
The Colorado State University Energy Institute’s mission is to develop energy and carbon solutions at-scale that achieve a positive global impact. The entity conducts research and development across a wide range of disciplines on a host of energy and carbon solution topics spanning fundamental science to deployment. For more information about The Energy Institute, please visit www.energy.colostate.edu

About CSU Mechanical Engineering Department
For more information about Colorado State University Department of Mechanical Engineering, please visit www.engr.colostate.edu/me/

illustration of satellite breaking apart upon re-entry after full use

Steelhead Composites Announces DOT Approval for Demisable Satellite Propulsion Solution

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illustration of satellite breaking apart upon re-entry after full use

Photo courtesy ESA ©2007

Golden, Colorado — March 23, 2022: Steelhead Composites, a global leader in hydrogen storage solutions and advanced lightweight pressure vessels, proudly announces the approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation for their low-cost satellite propulsion tanks.

In response to strong demand from the satellite manufacturing community for storage of compressed gasses for Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite propulsion and the requirement these vessels fully ablate upon re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere, Steelhead has invested in, developed, and now provides an off-the-shelf, certified solution to meet these needs. 

Manufactured under Steelhead’s AS9100-Rev D quality management system, these vessels are Designed-for-Demise to not create debris upon atmospheric re-entry thus allowing satellites to be safely disposed of at end of life.

“Steelhead is a firm believer of manufacturing products for a cleaner earth” says Andrew Coors, CEO at Steelhead Composites, “but this product is manufactured to ensure it doesn’t contribute to the space debris issue as well.”

Materials for the construction of these vessels were explicitly chosen to allow rapid manufacturing, low-cost construction and demisability while safely holding pressurized gasses for many years. The DOT certification affirms the quality of the vessel and allows on-road transportation of certain gasses and satellite propellants on US and Canadian roadways thereby also allowing for logistical efficiencies to the program at whole. 

“Steelhead up until now has focused on survivability, meaning we live up to having the most robust composite vessels in the market,“ states Curt Honcharik, Director of Quality and Certifications, “so this development and certification was a unique experience and allowed us to really flex our quality management system and materials expertise.”

The standard LEO satellite propellant tank has a DOT UN/ISO certification, is rated to 206 Bar (3,000 PSI), has an outer diameter of 171 mm (6.72 in), and offers volume options of 12 Liters (3.2 Gal) or 24 Liters (6.3 Gal).

About Steelhead Composites
Embracing advanced materials and advanced manufacturing, Steelhead is dedicated to a cleaner earth through the manufacturing of lightweight, high-strength cylinders for weight-sensitive energy and fuel storage applications. 


Media Contact:
Marisa Sundy
msundy@steelheadcomposites.com
Tel: +1 (720) 524-3360

illustration of satellite breaking apart upon re-entry after full use

Photo courtesy ESA ©2007

Demiseable COPV for Satellites

Image of Steelhead Composites Wheatridge Facility

Steelhead Composites Doubles Manufacturing Footprint to Meet Demand for Hydrogen Storage

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GOLDEN, Colo., Nov. 2, 2021 — Steelhead Composites, a global leader in hydrogen storage solutions, today announced expansion to a second facility in Wheatridge, Colorado primarily for manufacturing composite overwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs) for compressed hydrogen storage. The facility has been approved in the company’s ISO 9001, AS9100 and ISO 14001 quality and environmental management systems.

Various sizes and shapes for Steelhead Composites Composite Overwrapped Pressure Vessels (COPVs) for hydrogen storage

Steelhead Composites manufactures pressure vessels in a variety of sizes, shapes, and pressures to meet their customer’s needs. These lightweight tanks are used in a variety of industries like space, aviation, ground transportation, marine, rail, medical, storage, and more. They are extremely durable and hold a variety of compressed gasses including hydrogen, natural gas, oxygen, helium, and more.

Using advanced, state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment, Steelhead has doubled annual capacity with new testing, automation, filament winding and plastic molding. Their in-house liner manufacturing of both polymeric lined (Type IV) and metal lined (Type III) vessels allows customers access to the technology to meet their permeation, robustness, cost, size, and weight targets.

“There are intrinsic benefits of both metal-lined and plastic lined pressure vessels based on per-use case,” says Andrew Coors, CEO at Steelhead Composites “and Steelhead is unique in the world of having in-house expertise in manufacturing both classes of liner types.”

As hydrogen demand has skyrocketed in response to global efforts to decarbonize, Steelhead invested heavily to provide the most advanced hydrogen storage solutions available.

“In the last year, we have received over 1,000 hydrogen-related storage inquiries from 36 countries and as these companies need storage solutions for their zero-emission technologies.” states Marisa Veni Sundy, Director of Business Development at Steelhead Composites. “This expansion is very exciting for me as it expands Steelhead’s role in the upcoming global energy transaction,” she continues.

Steelhead will continue to offer their class-leading pressure vessels and systems for the storage and transport of compressed natural gas and other pressurized gases. The company serves a wide variety of industries including automotive, aerospace, aviation, marine, rail, and others.

About Steelhead Composites
Established in 2012, Steelhead is dedicated to the manufacturing of lightweight, high-strength cylinders used for weight-sensitive energy and fuel storage applications. Specialties include lightweight COPVs for storage and transport of hydrogen, CNG, and other pressurized gases, bladder accumulators, metallic and polymeric liners, and various accessories. Steelhead offers a full array of technical services in vessel design, metal spinforming, filament winding, prototyping, and testing of high-pressure vessels.

For more information, visit https://steelheadcomposites.com/

Media Contact:
Marisa Sundy
msundy@steelheadcomposites.com

Image of Steelhead Composites Wheatridge Facility

Steelhead Composites manufactures pressure vessels in a variety of sizes, shapes, and pressures to meet their customer’s needs. These lightweight tanks are used in a variety of industries like space, aviation, ground transportation, marine, rail, medical, storage, and more. They are extremely durable and hold a variety of compressed gasses including hydrogen, natural gas, oxygen, helium, and more.

KCNC | CBS Denver interview CO STEP Program

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Steelhead’s CEO Andrew Coors on the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade and SBA’s ‘STEP” program and how they assist small companies like us to compete internationally .

 

Awarded Gold Leader by the Colorado Environmental Leadership Program

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Manufacturing is not enough; sustainable manufacturing is the way to go. On this National Manufacturing Day, we’d like to recognize the hard work of Curt Honcharik, who runs quality department. Earlier this week he accepted the Gold Leader award from the Colorado Environmental Leadership Program on behalf of Steelhead.

Machining at Steelhead Composites

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“I enjoy the challenge of rapidly prototyping tight tolerance components like our fluid power fittings, that require multi-axis machining in a variety of materials.  Watching the in-house machined components come together in the final product is exciting as I know my work enables our products in everything from sports carsuspensions to propelling rockets in space.” – Colin Smith, Machinist

Vertical Axis Wind Turbine

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Kaushik Mallick brilliant head of Steelhead’s engineering and R&D, presented “Vertical Axis Wind Turbine with Thermoplastic Composite Blades” at the summer IACMI – The Composites Institute meeting on July 24, 2019.

 

The VAWT (Vertical Axis Wind Turbine) collaboration included 4 world class entities:

 

Steelhead Composites VAWT design and analysis;

Colorado State University materials testing and blade fabrication;

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, program management and techno-economic analysis;

Arkema thermoplastic resins.

 

The project ended in a phenomenal presentation and an elegant prototype on display (thanks Joshua Varn for the photo and assembly). Contact us for more information on the program or presentation.

Kevlar COPV

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Industrial product or kid toy? Steelhead Composites was requested to finish a set of 5L (1.3 gal), 350 bar (5,000 psi) kevlar and carbon fiber vessels in a specific color — I call the color “minion yellow.” Googly eyes optional.

Steelhead and Suspension Systems

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Today Steelhead Composites produces pressure vessels for a wide variety of applications and industries. Steelhead was initially founded with a mission to revolutionize the hydraulics industry with lightweight hydraulic accumulators. Increasingly we are seeing interest in our accumulators for automotive suspension application and hence we decided to investigate how our products are used in this market.

Use of accumulators in hydraulic or hydropneumatics suspension systems traces its history to 1954. Invented by Citroën the system uses the compressibility of gas and the incompressibility of hydraulic fluid in a “Spheres” with a rubber membrane fixed at the equator of the hollow metal ball. The spheres are, in effect, identical to what we sell as diaphragm accumulators. The history of this invention is quite fascinating with quite a bit of success across multiple platforms and millions of vehicles. And it appears that innovation in these systems continues at a rapid pace.

A 10% reduction in vehicle weight can result in a 6%-8% fuel economy improvement. Steelhead Composites has a successful legacy of taking advantage of the strength and weight of carbon fiber in components that help automotive companies decrease the vehicle weight. It appears that one component with both lightweight benefits and significant research are suspension systems. We don’t know how our products are being used since auto makers and Tier 1 auto manufacturers don’t advertise how their systems work. We just manufacture a component. As showed in our quick side-by-side of our 2L diaphragm accumulators, our design weighs 1/7th of traditional steel (and has a greatly reduced part count). Our products are opening up design opportunities deemed too heavy by legacy accumulators for suspension systems. This is even more critical if the design needs significant scale-up in size.

The applications appear to be primarily in active suspensions, some which operate hydraulically. The hydraulics control the vertical movement of the chassis relative to the driving surface using an onboard system which can also allow independent movement of each wheel. In addition, this allows for better traction, improved stability on a greater variety of surfaces and lower probability of vehicle rollover. Additionally, active suspension with hydraulics would allow the vehicle to lean, dive and squat as desired, which is a critical feature being demanded by the defense industry for next generation vehicles.

It is worth commenting that the fluid power industry is not usually associated with anything light weight as main customers of fluid power products – mobile machinery and oil and gas – are usually agnostic to weight. Our first products were bladder accumulators, both high pressure and low pressure, ranging from 5 gallons to 40 gallons, where we were able to shave 100’s of kgs from the product. Our thesis is that the weight savings are so great that we’ll have an attractive opportunity on anything which requires shipping or overhead installation. A couple of years ago, however, we had a series of unexpected requests from the robotics industry and the automotive industry who asked: “how small of an accumulator can you make?“. To meet their needs we engineered, patented, designed, tested and started manufacturing of a line of diaphragm accumulators and have recently improved the design, lowered the weight and increased the performance.

Steelhead now leads the industry in the manufacturing and supply of composite high-pressure vessels for the fluid power across multiple sectors including marine, aerospace and automotive. Our company holds a successful track record in the development of end-to-end solutions with OEMs, becoming integral to the manufacture of the final product.

 

Citroen ‘Sphere’ accumulator as installed and well used circa 1974

Steelhead 500cc and 2L diaphragm accumulators