Electroformed Liquid Hydrogen Pipes

  • Patent-pending twin-walled vacuum pipe for liquid hydrogen
  • Electroformed seamless construction
  • Twin-wall vacuum insulation reduces heat ingress
  • Integrated fittings and expansion joints
  • Complex bends can be fabricated without conventional welded construction
  • Mass per unit length of 0.6 kg/m in tested configuration
  • Vacuum performance better than 4 × 10⁻⁶ mbar in LH2 testing
  • Heat flux better than 0.18 W/m in LH2 testing
  • Demonstrated 2.8× lower heat leak than compared market solutions
  • Integrated liquid-hydrogen sensing remains in development and is not treated as a current standard feature

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Ultima Forma's Electroformed Liquid Hydrogen Pipe is a patent-pending twin-walled vacuum pipe engineered for lightweight cryogenic hydrogen transfer. The seamless electroformed construction can integrate fittings, expansion joints and complex bends while reducing welded joints and associated leak points. In liquid-hydrogen testing, Ultima Forma reports a mass per unit length of 0.6 kg/m, vacuum better than 4 × 10⁻⁶ mbar and heat flux better than 0.18 W/m, with 2.8 times lower heat leak than the compared market solutions. The low thermal mass is intended to reduce hydrogen boil-off during transfer and refueling.

Use Cases

  • Liquid hydrogen transfer
  • Liquid hydrogen refueling systems
  • Cryogenic hydrogen fuel systems
  • Aerospace liquid hydrogen distribution
  • Hydrogen propulsion fuel lines

Capabilities

  • Transfers liquid hydrogen with reduced heat ingress
  • Reduces boil-off through low thermal mass and vacuum insulation
  • Supports lightweight routing with integrated bends and fittings
  • Reduces fabrication joints and potential leak points through seamless electroforming
Ultima Forma Limited Ultima Forma Limited is a UK advanced-manufacturing company specialising in electroforming and electrodeposited metal structures. Its hydrogen work includes thin metallic barrier liners for high-pressure storage, composite over-wound hydrogen vessels and lightweight twin-walled vacuum piping for liquid-hydrogen transfer. The company supports development from engineering and validation through scalable in-house manufacture.

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