Abstract

As populations and cities continue to expand, there is an increasing demand on the existing infrastructure to transport both people and produce. The rise of urban air mobility and in particular eVTOLs can help address meeting these transportation needs. With the application of hydrogen fuel cells as the electric power source, high efficiency alternatives to conventional combustion engine technology are possible too.

This white paper discusses the role of hydrogen fuel cells in the fast growing eVTOL market and how Intelligent Energy’s (IE) technology can solve the challenges of heat dissipation during both flight and hover conditions, and also in hot ambient environments.

The paper describes the advantages of fuel cells and IE technology for improving the total cost of ownership when compared to pure battery powered options.

Fuel cells for aerospace applications

Intelligent Energy has been developing fuel cell stack technology specifically for the aerospace market since 2020 and in July 2024 the IE-FLIGHT fuel cell system product line was launched.

Compared to liquid-cooled fuel cell systems, the IE-FLIGHT product line offers a range of benefits including:

• Simpler construction of IE technology and lower cost design
• Fast transient response, reducing battery sizing for peak loads
• Full power through mission cycle, including hover with no ram air
• Smaller heat exchanger, lower drag through high temperature rejection