Singapore Firm, Boeing Team Up on Hydrogen

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation 2 Comments

EV World reports that a Singapore-based company, Horizon Energy Systems, has test flown the world’s first hydrogen powered quadracopter, a small UAV that is claimed to fly for hours, instead of the minutes a lithium battery pack would provide. The report asks that tantalizing question for all who suffer from range anxiety, especially while in flight.  “What if you could increase flying time by a factor of ten? Instead of half-an-hour, you could keep the UAV flying for five hours, and then charge it in a couple minutes time? That’s what Singapore-based Horizon Energy Systems is promising. They have developed micro fuel cells that can be fueled by three types of hydrogen storage systems from small compressed gas cylinders to ‘on-demand’ hydrogen generation chemical cartridges rated at 700 Watt-hours per kilogram (Whr/kg), significantly higher than the best lithium batteries.” Horizon’s Hycopter micro UAV quadracopter stores 120 grams (0.26 pounds) of hydrogen in its structure, equivalent to three kilograms (6.6 pounds) of lithium …