Design and Development of Fuel Tank for High Mobility Military Vehicle

Fuel tank is considered as safety component in the vehicle, and it has to be tested to meet the safety requirements as per AIS 095. Earlier, fuel tanks were manufactured by using Hot dipped cold rolled steel material and the weld zones are applied with Anti-corrosive coating. Few fuel tanks were reported with Corrosion problems. The root cause analysis was carried out considering the raw material, manufacturing process, transpiration, storage and usage. As an improvement, the new fuel tank is designed to eliminate the limitations of the existing fuel tank. 3D modeling was done to check space and mounting requirement in the layout and used for volume calculations. FE analysis was performed to check structural stability. Emphasis given on Interchange-ability to cater the new fuel tanks in place of old as spares requirement. The fuel tank has developed with Alumina steel material. Alumina steel is a material with the strength property of steel and corrosion resistant property of Aluminium. The complete manufacturing process has critically studied and new check points and inspection stages were introduced. The Limitations of existing fuel tank has been taken in to consideration and the additional new features were introduced. After successful development, the fuel tank has submitted to M/s Global Automotive research centre for Type approval. The Alumina steel fuel tank underwent hydraulic test and over turn test as per AIS 095: 2007 and type approval obtained. The fitment and functional test was carried out on vehicle and regularized as a standard fitment.