FUTURED. ZAL Magazin 2025

DLR INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING THERMODYNAMICS
34
Jannik Holtorf (left) and Markus Schorr (right) are keen: design and construction of DLR‘s new test rig are almost complete.
Next phase: commissioning.
DLR’S MULTI-STACK
TEST RIG FOR
HYDROGEN AVIATION
CONTACT
Dr. Syed Asif Ansar
syed-asif.ansar@dlr.de
A new fuel cell experimental test rig capable
of operating multi-stack architecture
was developed at the DLR Institute of Engineering
Thermodynamics as part of the
“Scalable Fuel Cell Systems for Electric Propulsion”
(SKAiB) project under the aviation
research program LuFo VI-2 of the Federal
Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate
Action (BMWK). Led by Airbus Operations
GmbH, the project aims to scale existing
technologies for low-emission electric propulsion
systems based on fuel cells into
the megawatt range for usage in commercial
aircraft.
In contrast to previous approaches, the focus of
the new test rig is not only on the performance
of individual proton exchange membrane fuel
cell stacks (PEMFC), but also on the interaction
in complex, realistic systems under varying op-