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Whitepaper: Refueling Developments in Hydrogen Fuel Cells for UAVs

By Mike Ball / 04 Dec 2018

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Ballard UAV hydrogen refuelling whitepaper Ballard Power Systems, a leading provider of innovative clean energy solutions and fuel cell technologies, has released a whitepaper outlining the current state of fuel cell technology for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) as well as the economics and logistics of providing hydrogen to drone operators in the field.

The paper gives details of:

  • UAS hydrogen consumption metrics during flight missions and fleet operational schemes
  • Onboard and ground hydrogen storage systems
  • Approaches to refilling compressed hydrogen tanks, including blowdown and boost compression
  • Generating hydrogen for onsite operations via electrolysis
  • A comparison of liquid hydrogen tank metrics

There are a variety of hydrogen storage and refueling solutions for PEMFC (proton-exchange membrane fuel cell) powered UAV systems, with each approach providing distinct benefits for particular UAV mission requirements and budgets.

Find suppliers of Fuels Cells for unmanned applications >

Posted by Mike Ball Mike Ball is our resident technical editor here at Unmanned Systems Technology. Combining his passion for teaching, advanced engineering and all things unmanned, Mike keeps a watchful eye over everything related to the unmanned technical sector. With over 10 years’ experience in the unmanned field and a degree in engineering, Mike’s been heading up our technical team here for the last 8 years. Connect
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