Gas flow and laboratory safety systems (2nd phase of the In-situ hydrogen testing environment build-up)

Tampere University is publishing direct award notice for 'Gas flow and laboratory safety systems'. The 2nd phase of building the In-situ hydrogen testing environment. [1st phase (Autoclave with loading unit) was tendered (open procedure) during 2024.]

BACKGROUND INFORMATION Materials Science and Environmental Engineering unit in the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences of Tampere University (hereinafter “MSEE/TAU”) carries out basic and applied research on all material classes with special emphasis on understanding structure-property relationships. That is, the research is focused on understanding how a given physical property of the material, such as strength, is dependent on the internal material structure and composition. For this task it is also of great importance to know how external conditions, such as temperature and surrounding medium, such as gas atmosphere, affect the material behavior. The MSEE/TAU unit is composed of several research groups focusing on different material classes and fields of materials engineering. For their research endeavors the unit has a wide range of dedicated research infrastructure composed of state-of-the-art testing and characterization devices as well as highly specialized custom-built instruments. NEED Up to date, testing and research on hydrogen effects has been limited to laboratory measurements which do not fully represent the actual conditions in practical applications. This has forced the use of overly conservative safety margins in design and on the other hand, left the possibility for overseeing a critical aspect of material behavior due to lack of suitable testing methods. The main reason for this limitation has been the requirement of large investments in testing and characterization infrastructure dedicated to hydrogen related research. In order to address this challenge, the TAU is jointly working with University of Oulu and VTT Technical Research Center of Finland Ltd. to form an Operando research infrastructure for energy materials and systems (OperaRI), which is part of the Finlands’s national infrastructure roadmap (FIRI) established by the Research Council of Finland. In this framework, MSEE/TAU will build a dedicated testing infrastructure which facilitates in-situ mechanical loading of materials under high pressure gaseous hydrogen. Such an infrastructure is truly cutting-edge with only a handful of systems with similar capabilities found in the world. MARKET ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSION FOR DIRECT AWARD The building of the in-situ hydrogen testing environment, i.e., the so-called H2-Mechanical Testing Machine (H2-MTM) is divided into three main parts: a) procurement of the mechanical testing machine and autoclave; “H2-MTM_Pos1”, procured in 2024 from Cormet Oy, Finland after open/competitive tendering, b) procurement of the gas flow and laboratory safety systems; “H2-MTM_Pos2”, currently planned direct procurement from Cormet Oy, Finland and c) setting up supporting laboratory (building) infrastructure as well as development of testing methods and safety practices; TAU internal. As noted above, the first part of the testing equipment, i.e., the mechanical testing machine and the autoclave (latter of which houses the high pressure hydrogen gas during the test), were procured from Cormet Oy after competitive tendering in 2024. Prior to opening the call for tenders for the first part, a careful market analysis was carried out. This included: a) evaluation of the available state-of-the-art technology including consideration of alternative methods for obtaining the same scientific goals, b) survey of the existing systems worldwide based on openly available sources, c) detailed discussions with potential suppliers covering feasible performance-cost-balance as well as technical implementation of the overall system. Based on the discussions with suppliers it became evident that original budget reserved for the testing environment was not sufficient and hence the procurement was split into two parts. This split was clearly indicated in the call of tenders for the first part. The second part of the testing equipment, i.e., the gas flow and laboratory safety systems, are an extension to the first part and seamless technological merging of the two parts is required; there are no alternatives or reasonable substitutes for the procurement. Due to the overall specificity of the technology, the number of potential suppliers is very limited. The contracting authority is exercising its right to set a high quality requirement based on its needs and highlighting the fact that very strict safety related legislative regulations have to be followed. Therefore, it is evident that the supplier of the first part, Cormet Oy, who thus has the best available knowledge on the technical construction of the first part of the equipment and has experience in supplying similar systems, is best fitted to carry out also the second part.