Philip Haupt, Director of the NAC said “hydrogen fuel cells technology is set to become a game-changer in aerospace and a number of other fields.  This project provides global visibility of South Africa’s expertise in the field.  In addition, by leading the project that will further the understanding and maturation of hydrogen fuel cell technology, South Africa will be able to place its advanced manufacturing sector in a prime position to take advantage of the inevitable opportunities that will emerge”. 

Besides emission-free and low-noise aircraft operation, fuel cells would reduce the overall weight of aircraft, leading to lower fuel burn and operating costs together with further reduced carbon emissions during flight.  As by-products, hydrogen fuel cells could enable aircraft to generate their own water supplies. They would also have a safety benefit through their ability to generate inerting gas used to reduce flammability levels in aircraft fuel tanks and for suppressing any cargo hold fires. 

Fuel cells, because they do not have any moving parts, are less maintenance intensive than conventional APUs. They could also potentially replace heavy batteries and conventional fuel tank inerting systems.  In doing so they would reduce the weight and fuel consumption of fuel cell-equipped aircraft. 

Airbus has already performed test flights involving fuel cells to power individual emergency power systems, the knowledge and technology maturation is still on its way to reach a level to permit the complete replacement of the electrical power systems with a multi-functional fuel cell. 

The project with HySA Systems Competence Centre will go some way to closing that gap.  It is being undertaken at postgraduate level and will identify the factors influencing fuel cell performance, ageing and monitoring and will then consider how these could be adopted for use in aircraft.