WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development


Print ISSN: 1790-5079
E-ISSN: 2224-3496

Volume 14, 2018

Notice: As of 2014 and for the forthcoming years, the publication frequency/periodicity of WSEAS Journals is adapted to the 'continuously updated' model. What this means is that instead of being separated into issues, new papers will be added on a continuous basis, allowing a more regular flow and shorter publication times. The papers will appear in reverse order, therefore the most recent one will be on top.


Volume 14, 2018



Evaluations on Hydrogen Fuel Cells as a Source of Energy for Specific Operations Category Civil RPAS Systems

AUTHORS: F. Bonfante, M. D. L. Dalla Vedova, P. Maggiore

Download as PDF

ABSTRACT: This paper is on the evaluation of hydrogen fuel cells as a mean to enhance Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems performances in terms of reachable range and endurance to integrate them into controlled airspaces operatively and safely. RPAS systems are raising deep interest within the civil aeronautical community for their advantages like, among the other issues, preserving human operators from safety risks in a variety of aerial operations. The European Aviation Safety Authority is elaborating a risk based concept of operations for which, RPAS sorties will be classified into open, specific or certified category operations according to the associated level of risk (from low to high level respectively). Among these categories, RPAS systems capable of specific level operations can represent concretely the kind of RPAS really capable of operational integration into controlled airspaces. Starting from these premises, this paper has been developed on the evaluation of hybrid propulsion systems based on hydrogen fuel cells as a possible source of power to enhance range and endurance of RPAS systems to operate into controlled airspaces. Main steps to size a fuel cell system to feed electrical motors of a fixed wing RPAS capable of specific operations category are listed and briefly described in this article. Then, a more extensive parametric model of a fuel cell power line based on operative and safety requirements for medium range/medium endurance RPAS systems is presented and discussed. Finally, main concerns related to the use of hydrogen are listed and discussed laying the basis for future development of this study.

KEYWORDS: Controlled Airspaces, Endurance, Hydrogen Fuel Cell, Integration, Parametric Model, Range, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), Safety

REFERENCES:

[1] Joint Authorities for Rulemaking of Unmanned Systems (JARUS), ECTL_ATM CONOPS, Doc. JAR DEL SEC 01, First edition, Draft, 26/06/2017.

[2] International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Safety management manual, Doc. 9859_AN/474, Montreal (Canada), 2013.

[3] European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Notice for Proposed Amendment (NPA), 2017.

[4] International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Global air management operational concept, Doc. 9854_AN/458, Montreal (Canada), First edition, 2005.

[5] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/greenspace/ green-aviation.html, accessed on 19/10/2017.

[6] EUROCONTROL Experimental Center, GAES project: potential benefits of fuel cell. Usage in the aviation context, EEC/SEE/2006/004, European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation EUROCONTROL, 2006.

[7] J. Sliwinski, A. Gardi, M. Marino, R. Sabatini, Hybrid electric propulsion integration in unmanned aircraft, Energy, 2017.

[8] N. Sammes, Fuel cell technology reaching towards commercialization, Springer, 2006.

[9] K. P. Valavanis, G. J. Vachtsevanos, Handbook of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Springer, 2015.

[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial _vehicle, accessed on the 27/10/2017.

[11] M. Colucci, Electric propulsion for sports use (Propulsione elettrica per uso sportive), Master Degree thesis, Politecnico di Torino, 2013.

[12] S. Leutenegger, C. Hürzeler, A. K. Stowers, K. Alexis, M. W. Achtelik, D. Lentink, P. Y. Oh, R. Siegwart, Flying robots, Springer handbook of robotics, Springer, 2016, pp. 623-670.

[13] SAE international, Innovative all-electric motor glider project 2012. http://papers.sae.org/2013- 01-2114/

[14] J. Höflinger, P. Hofmann, Thermal management of a fuel cell range extended electric vehicle, Springer, 2017. DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-19224- 2_7

[15] J. Töpler, J. Lehmann, Hydrogen and fuel cell technologies and market perspectives, Springer, 2016. DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-44972-1

[16] P. Osenar, J. Sisco, C. Reid, Advanced propulsion for small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, The role of fuel cell based energy systems for commercial UAVs, BALLARD WHITE PAPER, 2017.

[17] D. Verstraete, A. Gong, D. D. C. Lu, J. L. Palmer, Experimental investigation of the role of the battery in the AeroStack hybrid, fuel cell based propulsion system for small unmanned aircraft systems, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Vol.40, No.3, 2015, pp. 1598-1606.

[18] MMC unveils next-gen hydrogen fuel cell for use in range of drones, Fuel Cells Bulletin, Elsevier, Vol.2017, Issue 8, Page 5, August 2017. DOI: 10.1016/S1464-2859(17)30286-9

[19] Horizon launches Hycopter fuel cell multirotor UAV, Fuel Cells Bulletin, Elsevier, Vol.201 , Issue , Page 4, June 2015. DOI: 10.1016/S1464-2859(15)30145-0

WSEAS Transactions on Environment and Development, ISSN / E-ISSN: 1790-5079 / 2224-3496, Volume 14, 2018, Art. #10, pp. 102-111


Copyright © 2018 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0

Bulletin Board

Currently:

The editorial board is accepting papers.


WSEAS Main Site