Fuel cell plane for zero emission flying

by
in environment on (#1D7H7)
story imageBeing the first four-seat passenger plane relying primarily on a hydrogen fuel cell, the HY4 will take off to its maiden flight during the upcoming summer. The powertrain of this twin-fuselage, single-engine plane consists of a hydrogen storage unit, a low-temperature hydrogen fuel cell and a high-performance battery. The fuel cell converts the hydrogen energy directly into electric energy, powering the propeller. The only by-product in this process is pure water. If the hydrogen needed for the conversion process is generated in an electrolysis process powered through renewables, the HY4 flies completely emission-free.

The HY4 powertrain has already been tested successfully in the lab. To create enough lift to take off, the system must provide the maximum takeoff performance reliably for at least three minutes. During the test, the developers already succeeded in running the system for more than ten minutes at maximum power. The interplay between fuel cell and the battery, which unites the functions of an energy buffer and back-up power system, has also been proved. This paves the way to integrate the powertrain into the plane.

http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/news/fuel-cell-plane-brings-zero-emission-flying-within-reach-0

Boeing flight-tested the first manned fuel cell aircraft back in 2009.
Reply 6 comments

"Fly" (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2016-05-10 02:55 (#1D7MZ)

It's great that people are working on this, and by all means they should get funding one way or another. Wake me up when it's more than a cg rendering.

Re: "Fly" (Score: 3, Informative)

by seriously@pipedot.org on 2016-05-10 08:18 (#1D84N)

the HY4 will take off to its maiden flight during the upcoming summer.
I guess they're a bit further than CGI renderings ;-)

But, indeed, it will be interesting to have an update on this by summer's end.

Keep up the good work. (Score: 3, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2016-05-10 23:40 (#1DAEN)

I respect Pipedot's refusal to copy Slashdot or SoylentNews articles and their determination to find their own articles.

I thank Pipedot's admin for posting this story. Cool!

I have a source of interesting very technical articles, many with an exploration/military twist. Perhaps I should start submitting them, to fan the flames, and help Pipedot become that third party that we all claim to want but never have time to nurture.

~ childo

Re: Keep up the good work. (Score: 3, Insightful)

by seriously@pipedot.org on 2016-05-11 07:43 (#1DB6T)

I have a source of interesting very technical articles, many with an exploration/military twist. Perhaps I should start submitting them, to fan the flames, and help Pipedot become that third party that we all claim to want but never have time to nurture.
Please do :)

Another problem is that there are stories in the pipe, but they don't get upvoted enough to make it to front page (and yes, I'm as guilty as anyone not upvoting stories there).

Fuel cell plane for zero emission flying (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2016-05-19 08:02 (#1E8XF)

well at least they admit that using fuel cells in planes is a pipe dream. I much more reasonable option is to use H2 from carbon free sources (i.e. solar, wind, nuclear, etc.) combined with renewable carbon (atmospheric, biomass, algae, etc.) to make liquid fuels. typical jet fuel has an energy density (engergy/vol) 6x times of heavily compressed H2. It's hard enough to find space for my carry-on's on airplanes as it is, I don't need more space being taken up by huge fuel cell stacks and H2 tanks

Re: Fuel cell plane for zero emission flying (Score: 2, Informative)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2016-05-19 16:54 (#1EAQ1)

Fuel cells have conversion efficiency double that of a turbine, so your 6x volume figure is immediately down to 3x...

My next thought is of methanol... A popular fuel for fuel cell forklifts. More dense and decidedly renewable.