Munich-Based Startup Successfully Develops World's Smallest Pressure Regulator for Hydrogen Gas

­The hydrogen start-up water stuff & sun is developing a technology that for the first time combines safe and easy storage with the direct use of green energy. The core component is a microvalve system consisting of several subcomponents. The startup has now successfully tested the first two stages of a five-step pressure regulator that will be able to control the hydrogen release in steps from 1000bars down to a few bars. The pressure regulator is only a few micrometers in size and is the core component of a microvalve system that controls the gas flow inside a silicon chip measuring only 4x4x2 mm.

The miniature pressure regulator will be integrated into tennis-ball-sized carbon fiber high pressure storage cells called SFEERS. SFEERS store renewable energy in the form of compressed gaseous hydrogen. Many of these cells can safely, easily, and highly efficiently store and transport hydrogen for mobile and stationary consumers in a hydrogen battery.

The light weight and flexibility of the SFEERS allows for a highly modular system, so that the hydrogen battery can be customized to all kinds of energy consuming applications powering hydrogen fuel cells or hydrogen combustion engines of all sizes.

"A successful energy transition requires a shift from fossil fuels to renewable energies, and hydrogen as an energy carrier will be able to make a decisive contribution to this. With our technology, we are making green hydrogen safe, cost efficient and easily available and thus competitive with fossil fuels. With the successful development of the pressure regulator prototype, we have achieved a decisive technical breakthrough that represents an important milestone in the overall development of the hydrogen battery," explains Thomas Korn, CEO and co-founder of water stuff & sun GmbH.

The world-wide patented technology will be unveiled at the Energy Tech Summit in Warsaw at the end of April, a show case for the latest developments in energy and mobility and a meeting place for investors, entrepreneurs, and government representatives from over 40 countries. The development move comes at a good time, as the startup opens its next investment round.