FUTURED. ZAL Magazin 2023
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
TECCON<br />
64<br />
ENVIRON MENTALLY<br />
FRIENDLY INTO<br />
THE FUTURE<br />
High-performance, scalable hydrogen power<br />
trains are necessary for low-carbon propulsion<br />
of aircraft. Developing these systems<br />
for fixed-wing UAVs and small<br />
airplanes is the goal of the joint research<br />
project H2-FINITY. The ensuing combination<br />
of hydrogen tank, fuel cell, and electric motor<br />
is putting into practice on a small scale<br />
what will possibly be the future of commercial<br />
aviation.<br />
MOTIVATION<br />
Aviation is at a turning point. Environmental and<br />
economical requirements demand new technologies,<br />
products, and services that support the<br />
goals of sustainability and cli mate neutrality. One<br />
key component is the use of hydrogen as an energy<br />
source. Examples for existing efforts to de-<br />
velop hydrogen solutions for the air transportation<br />
sector range from clean aviation at the<br />
European level to the Hydrogen Aviation Lab<br />
recently established in Hamburg. But large aircraft<br />
also bring large problems that require<br />
equivalent efforts and time frames.<br />
H2-FINITY has been designed to address a different<br />
question: how can small and medium-sized<br />
enterprises (SMEs) contribute to technological<br />
progress and create a future-oriented product<br />
that uses hydrogen as its primary source of energy<br />
to address the market of small aerial vehicles?<br />
Here, the systems are not as complex, the<br />
design space is not as limited, and regulations<br />
are not as strict as in commercial aviation. The<br />
task is the development of a scalable power train<br />
for small aerial vehicles with a take-off mass between<br />
25 kg and 250 kg. This does not only in-
Change language