High-pressure situations – like those you find in space, aircraft, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or emergency response units – call for high-pressure equipment. With safety, performance and reliability key, you need to trust your gas cylinders are able to withstand the many challenges associated with extreme environmental conditions.

In this blog, we’ll explain why AMS Composite Cylinders are ideal for aerospace, UAVs and emergency response applications, where high pressure, low weight cylinders are crucial for applications in high-pressure, high-stakes environments.

Versatile Applications Across Industries

AMS Composite Cylinders are ideal solutions across a wide range of industries, each with unique requirements:

Space Exploration

There can be fewer high-pressure situations than in space launch and orbit, where gas cylinders must endure huge temperature fluctuations, intense launch vibration and radiation impact. AMS Composite Cylinders are used extensively across aerospace, both for launch vehicles and in electric propulsion systems.

To ensure AMS Composite Cylinders can withstand those intense pressures, our cylinders are certified to DOT and built to the highest, rigorous safety standards. Constructed from lightweight yet exceptionally strong carbon composite materials, our high-pressure cylinders are designed to maintain structural integrity under high pressures and extreme environmental conditions. This advanced engineering ensures that AMS cylinders are durable and safe even in the face of fluctuating temperatures or vibrational forces, providing peace of mind for operators in the industry.

For the space industry, where equipment must endure both the space vacuum and radiation, AMS cylinders offer reliable performance. Additionally, their lightweight construction reduces payload weight, essential for cost-effective space missions without compromising safety or structural resilience.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles 

AMS Composite Cylinders are a perfect fit for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as we offer a lightweight, durable solution that significantly enhances drone performance.

When used in hydrogen fuel cell systems, AMS’s hydrogen cylinders are designed to improve power-to-weight ratios, allowing UAVs to fly further and/or carry more weight compared to standard electric drones. For instance, switching from traditional batteries to fuel cell systems with AMS Type 3 carbon composite cylinders can extend a drone’s flight time from around 20-30 minutes to an impressive 3.5 hours. Take, for example, our work with the e-Drone Zero, a long-endurance quadcopter designed for the commercial market. Thanks to our AMS 3L carbon composite cylinder, we have doubled the drone’s flight time while increasing its total weight by only 600g.

In addition to performance, our cylinders are built to meet rigorous safety standards, including ISO 11119-2 and certifications for global markets such as the US (DOT) and Canada (TC). They also feature high impact and flame resistance, crucial for the demands of UAV applications in aerial photography, surveillance, search and rescue and cargo delivery. These high-pressure (300 Bar) carbon composite cylinders are available as NLL (Non-Limited Life) or with a lighter-weight, 15-year lifespan option, making them adaptable to different UAV requirements.

Emergency Response 

Response teams need reliable equipment when attending emergency rescue situations. AMS Composite Cylinders are routinely used across the firefighting, ambulance and quick response units, where quick access to high-pressure gas is vital. Our cylinders’ robust design ensures they can withstand the rigours of emergency response scenarios, where rapid deployment and durability are key.

Our Type 2 and 3 gas cylinders are among the lightest on the market, helping save ambulance crews up to 5kg per cylinder – crucial for paramedics who need to minimise the weight of their medical bag. And as AMS Composite Cylinders can be filled to 300 bar pressure, we can provide 50% more capacity than 200 bar cylinders of the same size.

This gives the paramedics, emergency response teams, patients and firefighters a longer, uninterrupted supply of gas. Not only does this help save lives, it also leads to significant cost savings as it reduces the need to refill and switch out cylinders as often.

Advantages of AMS Composite Cylinders for High-Pressure Applications

AMS Composite Cylinders stand out due to a combination of key features:

  • High Strength-to-Weight Ratio: Our lightweight construction means AMS Composite Cylinders are easier to handle, transport and deploy, especially in space and drone applications where every kilogram matters. Despite their lightweight nature, AMS cylinders do not compromise on strength, making them resilient under high-pressure demands.
  • Non-Limited Life: Under certain conditions, AMS cylinders have a Non-Limited Life (NLL) and can be used indefinitely provided they pass periodic retesting. To comply with DOT requirements, the same Type 3 carbon composite gas cylinders have a 15-year lifetime.
  • Enhanced Safety Features: AMS prioritises safety with features like rigorous quality control checks that ensure each cylinder can withstand pressures far above typical requirements. This makes AMS cylinders suitable for unpredictable environments, ensuring safety across all high-pressure applications.

High-Pressure Cylinders That Deliver 

High pressure situations need high pressure gas cylinders – AMS Composite Cylinders are already in use across space, civilian and military applications, UAV and emergency response industries thanks to our lightweight, high-pressure, NLL cylinders.

Known for our innovation, quality and safety, AMS Composite Cylinders deliver the strength and reliability needed to operate in the world’s most demanding environments.

About AMS Composite Cylinders

At AMS Composite Cylinders, we specialise in supplying high-quality gas cylinders and gas tanks to a wide variety of industries around the world – with Type 1, Type 2 and Type 3 cylinders available in standard and custom sizes for a full range of applications.

Supplying clients across the USA, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America, we produce cylinders to a wide range of recognised global standards, holding accreditations in major markets worldwide.

AMS Composite Cylinders manufacturers to ISO and EN Standards (including ISO-11119-2, ISO 11119-1, EN 12245, EN 12257, ISO 7666, and ISO 11118) and the requirements of DOT, UN PED/TPED and TC (Canada). Cylinders and be supplied with Pi marking, CE marking and Rho ρ marking for the UK.

Please contact us today for additional information about AMS Composite Cylinders or to order.