Boeing Flies First Ever Hydrogen Fuel Cell Plane
by Michael Graham Richard, Ottawa, Canada 
on 04. 3.08
It's very light, it didn't fly very fast or very far, but the plane in the photo above made aviation history by making the first manned flight powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The Boeing Research & Technology Europe team in Madrid, Spain, modified a two-seat Dimona motor-glider and installed a hybrid propulsion system based on a hydrogen fuel cell and lithium-ion batteries.
There were three test flights in February and March around the Ocaña airfield, south of Madrid.
During the flights, the pilot of the experimental airplane climbed to an altitude of 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) above sea level using a combination of battery power and power generated by hydrogen fuel cells. Then, after reaching the cruise altitude and disconnecting the batteries, the pilot flew straight and level at a cruising speed of 100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) for approximately 20 minutes on power solely generated by the fuel cells.
Not exactly air-show material, and the more demanding take-off was done using help from the batteries, but it's a start.
Boeing is not expecting large passenger aircrafts to be powered by hydrogen fuel cells any time soon (see the second half of this post for our predictions on green(er) air travel), but they could be used in small manned and unmanned airplanes and serve as auxiliary power-generation units for large commercial airplanes.
You can see a video at the Boeing press release page.
See also: ::China to Build 97 Airports in 12 Years & the Future of Air Travel, ::Virgin Atlantic to Demo Biofuel Flight, but Not Quite There Yet, ::Future Planes Might be "Flying Wings"
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- What is the Cheapest and Greenest Way to Travel?
- Top 10 Things to Bring On Your Cross-Country Bus Trip
- Your Idle Computer Can Save Lives
- 5 Reuses for CDs: Turn Old CDs into New Geek Gear
- Go Green: Share Your Home with Extended Family
- Travel Green and Save Money without Giving Up Anything (Except Your Carbon Footprint)
Ok .. so the batteries did take off ... Now how far could it fly on batteries alone?
If the hydrogen fuel cell, hydrogen tank, and hydrogen were replaced by an equal weight of lithium batteries, would it fly as far or further?
John Taylor
>auxiliary power-generation units for large commercial airplanes
Maybe a solid-oxide fuel cell would be more appropriate, since it would run on kerosene like the engines do. If you got them tolerant enough to vibration, they could actually be built into the combustion chamber.
>how far could it fly on batteries alone?
Seeing as it's a motor-glider, it will go as far as the thermals keep running.
I guess this is first step... it seems to have done a bit more than Richard Branson's PR Gimmick of connecting 1 of his 4 Jumbo engines to take 5% of it's energy from glorified Duracell.
Fuel cell tech has a long way to go, so we're kind of in wright brother's territory right now.
All:
Thou hast no right but to do thy Will.
Unfortunately, while benign on the ground, it's my nonexpert understanding that hydrogen would contribute substantially to climate disruption, because of water vapor trailers -- and, ironically, the best way around this yet available is precisely to fly them at low altitudes (formatting is not being cooperative -- you'll have to cut and paste some links):
Operational Performance Prediction of a Hydrogen-Fueled
Commercial Transport by Author David C. Maniaci
College of Engineering Research Symposium, March 17 - 18, 2006
SMEAL Business Building Atrium
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA
http://www.engr.psu.edu/symposium2006/papers/
Session%203E%20-%20Energy/Maniaci.doc
On the potential of the cryoplane technology to reduce aircraft. climate impact. Proceedings of the AAC-Conference, June 30 to July 3, 2003, Friedrichshafen, Germany. M. Ponater. *. , S. Marquart, L. Ström, K. Gierens, R. Sausen
http://www.pa.op.dlr.de/aac/proceedings/
AAC-proceedings-mitigation.pdf
CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
Ph.D. THESIS
Academic Year: 2001-2004
FREDRIK SVENSSON
Potential of Reducing the Environmental Impact of Civil Subsonic Aviation by Using Liquid Hydrogen
April 2005
http://www.foi.se/upload/rapporter/reducing-environmental-impact.pdf
Love is the law, love under will.
-Michael
Interresting... Most General aviation pilots fly under daylight VFR (visual flying). The wing surface of a GA aircraft is always proportionnal to the gross weight, and the power needed to climb is proportionnal to the weight. Wouldn't it make sense to cover the wing area with solar panels, that could recharge the battery and maybe supply enough power to conduct the cruising portion of the flight. (An aircraft needs 90% power to take off, but could fly level at 50% power).
I am not an ingeneer, just a pilot who spends fortune on fuel that is wasted in highly unefficient aircraft engine... (my engine burns 52 liters at 2500rpm 75% power setting, 150 net horsepower) A car engine with modern injection technology would use approx. 15 liters for the same ride...)
Regards
Philippe St-Pierre
Michael,
I commend your use of technical references, but you either did not read one of your sources thoroughly or did not understand the material.
Although it is true that a hydrogen aircraft would release about twice the water vapor as an equivalent kerosene aircraft, the contrails formed by a hydrogen aircraft would have less radiative forcing. Radiative forcing is a measure of the change in radiation entering the atmosphere and radiation leaving it, essentially quantifying the impact emissions have on global warming.
A hydrogen aircraft contrail would have the same impact on global warming (climate change) as a kerosene aircraft contrail, despite the contrail containing more water vapor. This is due to the actual composition of a hydrogen aircraft contrail (there aren't as many large particles for condensation to form around.)
All of this information can be found in the "Emissions" section of the first paper you referenced:
"Operational Performance Prediction of a Hydrogen-Fueled Commercial Transport" by Author David C. Maniaci
There are two more recent papers available on the subject of hydrogen-fueled aircraft, available from the AIAA.
~Dave