Fuel Cell Drone for Soil Monitoring

We have set out to develop a drone, based on the existing Delftacopter, capable of soil monitoring via LiDAR remote sensing. The battery was to be replaced by a fuel cell system in order to extend the range threefold to 180km. Unfortunately, the ultimate design is likely unfeasible. Agriculture requires healthy soil and monitoring soil health is...

Exergy-Gravimetric Design Approach to Determine Optimal Fuel Cell – Battery Hybrid Powerplant Configuration for All-Electric 2-Seater Aircraft: Hybrid Powerplant Design for Pipistrel Alpha-H2

As all industries move towards sustainable fuels to reduce emissions, aircraft industry is still at its nascent stages. The adoption of clean energy sources has been slow particularly due to low energy density of commercially available batteries, and high volumetric density of hydrogen as a fuel. Electric aircrafts have been demonstrated but...

Preliminary Propulsion System Sizing Methods for PEM Fuel Cell Aircraft

Fuel cells are one of the promising technical solutions for the first generation of sustainable aircraft. Currently, there are several shortcomings in the literature related to the conceptual and preliminary sizing of the propulsion systems of such aircraft: not only is there a lack of general methods, but also, much less effort is put into the...

Preliminary sizing methodologies for regional aircraft with liquid hydrogen fuel and SOFC-GT-Battery hybrid-electric powertrains

Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) systems for aviation applications have been considered for their use as APUs or powertrains, as standalone systems or in combination with gas turbines, and both fueled by reformed Jet-A or by hydrogen. Most existing studies focus on powertrain performance modelling. In this work, traditional tube-and-wing regional...