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Hydrogen fuel for Long endurance UAVs

Posted by iangl on November 9, 2010 at 9:00am
3689378041?profile=original
They did it. AEROPAK is a UAV specific powering solution. It runs just on water (hydrogen fuel) and delivers lots and lots of electricity.

http://www.hes.sg/

This product has unbeliavable charateristics compared to our primitive battery packs, allowing looong flight times. I discovered it today, and am waiting for a quote from Horizon Energy Systems. They also sell a complete hydrogen power ssolution for RC cars.

New horizons for us! Enjoy
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Comments

  • Joel November 13, 2010 at 2:17pm
    Yeah, you can read it here: http://diydrones.com/profiles/blog/show?id=705844:BlogPost:201930&a...
  • Albert Augustine November 13, 2010 at 2:16pm
    This is old news a member already discoverd this along time ago but the coments wernt as positive as this one but remember is it more efishant then an internal combustion engine or an all electric-battery system?
  • Leon November 12, 2010 at 11:34pm
    "burst amps 24 or 0,7C"
    The burst current is not acchieved by the fuelcell itself... but by an "optionnal Li Po battery"!
    The actual burst current of the fuel cell is... 8A only!
  • FLick November 12, 2010 at 10:35am
    this fc with little cartridge in lipo measurements is:
    6s 36000 mAh is really 8x the specific energy of ipo, it sound good but...
    0,2C (yes 0.2C or 8A continous for 200W) burst amps 24 or 0,7C.
    2Kg
    3.4lt (!)

    My point of view:
    -Same power performance of a 6s1p 10$ 800mah lipo but with 36000mah instead of 800.
    -occupy space of 10 (ten) soda cans
    -Weights ike my entire rc equipment incuding notebook.
    -same cost to buy expensive dress and gadgets and fly to their company in business class and limousine, to see their face while you ask a demonstration flight to buy them in stock of 10000 units/year. This is priceless and at least you see something that really fly other than words.

    Now please tell me what plane shoud I buid or buy to fly it. why they point this unreachable market?
    what really makes fly our panes is the power/weight and power/voume, you can have lot of energy stored but without power you have nothing.

    ps: those things are good for things that today lasts hours with a lipo but you wish it lasts days and donì't have portabe probems (nothing comes to my mind).

    I folow the fc market since 2001, they are going better but cant fight with lipo actualy in any way because you need a battery basicly for 1 reason: lack of other energy suppy that probably means portability. a market wil be good as soon as we can hook our solar panels to them and disconnect from grid. automobiles too are an option but again too much weight. realy I see no other way to use them with actual performances and a major drop in price.
    when will be convenient I will be the first to use them on my house, I follow them since 2001 (energy managment is one of my jobs)

    No comment for the price.
    circes in the maps and numbers don't impress us, show them flying!
  • Moderator
    Robert Krogh (hooks) November 12, 2010 at 4:29am

  • DODY November 11, 2010 at 11:46pm
    Comment by DODY just now
    Delete Comment Hello,
    I found this system which functions well, But the weight is of 890g
    Cordially
    DODY
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9UnqW6wrxI&feature=player_embedded

    http://www.journaldugeek.com/2010/05/26/batterie-fuel-cell-voiture-...
    Commentaire
  • Moderator
    Gary Mortimer November 11, 2010 at 10:29pm
    Current British UAVs use solar cells and can stay up almost indefinately ;-)
  • Ethan Ferrell November 11, 2010 at 9:29pm
    Well, according to the website these Aeropacks are designed for UAVs and have a weight of under 4 Lbs filled. Obviously they are designed for larger, more "professional", UAVs. The carbon fiber cylinder is for ground/workbench testing and isn't recommended for flight. I'd say these are more for DoD applications than DIY. However, current US millitary UAVs use solar cells and can pretty much stay up indefinitely.
  • T.D. Gonzales November 11, 2010 at 9:19pm
    Good point on the water. It is a bad habit from when I first heard about them probably a decade ago. If you look at Doug Weibel's comment on the first page of comments he mentions making large containers that can't support their weight if they were filled with water. So I guess you can make some pretty flimsy(I can't think of a better word) containers.

    Either way a fuel cell is just another energy source, and as of right now it looks like gasoline or battery tech has more bang for your buck.
  • Leo Rampen November 11, 2010 at 8:48pm
    I know it's nitpicky, but it would probably be a good idea to avoid suggesting that hydrogen fuel cells or fuelled vehicles "run on water", as that gives some sort of credibility to the people peddling those devices which supposedly increase your car fuel economy by electrolysing hydrogen in-car. Fuel cells do not run on water - the fact you can electrolyse water to produce hydrogen is really moot, as almost all hydrogen you can purchase is produced through different techniques - and claiming so is essentially akin to claiming that conventional gasoline engines run on carbon dioxide. Sorry for being so forthcoming with this point, but it's a common and harmful misconception that doesn't help in level discussion of energy storage methods.

    Regarding hydrogen as a fuel source, it's certainly an interesting proposition. I'd imagine (although I don't have any figures to back this up) the weight of a pressure vessel would be a considerable issue in implementing this in a UAV. Perhaps it wouldn't be - I know that the energy density of hydrogen is greater than gasoline, and the efficiencies of fuel cells are considerably greater than those of gasoline engines - however actually carrying that hydrogen with you could be a really large issue. Fuel cells are also (or at least have been) prohibitively expensive due to the platinum and other rare metal catalysts required, but it may be that the cost has fallen in recent years.
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