Hydrogen-Powered Ion Tiger Sets 26-Hour Flight Endurance Record
The Naval Research Laboratory’s Ion Tiger, a hydrogen-powered fuel cell unmanned air vehicle (UAV), has flown 26 hours and 1 minute carrying a 5-pound payload, setting another unofficial flight endurance record for a fuel-cell powered flight. The test flight took place on November 16th through 17th.
The electric fuel cell propulsion system onboard the Ion Tiger has the low noise and signature of a battery-powered UAV, while taking advantage of hydrogen, a high-energy fuel. Fuel cells create an electrical current when they convert hydrogen and oxygen into water and heat. The 550 Watt (0.75 horsepower) fuel cell onboard the Ion Tiger has about four times the efficiency of a
comparable internal combustion engine and the system provides seven times the energy in the equivalent weight of batteries. The Ion Tiger weighs approximately 37 pounds and carries a 4- to 5-pound payload.
The Ion Tiger fuel cell system development team is led by NRL and includes Protonex Technology Corporation, HyperComp Engineering, and Arcturus UAV. The program is sponsored by the Office of Naval Research. (more…)
Catalyst Simulations Could Lower Fuel Cell Cost
Dane Morgan, PhD, Assistant Professor, University of Wisconsin - Madison, at the 2nd Annual Fuel \Cells Durability & Performance 2006 conference.
Imagine a car that runs on hydrogen from solar power and produces water instead of carbon emissions. While vehicles like this won’t be on the market anytime soon, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are making incremental but important strides in the fuel cell technology that could make clean cars a reality.
Materials science and engineering assistant professor Dane Morgan and Ph.D. student Edward (Ted) Holby have developed a computational model that could optimize an important component of fuel cells, making it possible for the technology to have a more widespread use. Essentially, they investigate how particle size relates to the overall stability of a material, and their model has shown that increasing the particle size of a fuel cell catalyst decreases degradation and therefore increases the useful lifetime of a fuel cell. (more…)
Surveillance Vehicles Take Flight Using Alternative Energy
This photo shows the Ion Tiger. (Credit: US Naval Research Laboratory)
Nearly undetectable from the ground, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are widely used by the military to scan terrain for possible threats and intelligence. Now, fuel cell powered UAVs are taking flight as an Office of Naval Research (ONR)-sponsored program to help tactical decision-makers gather critical information more efficiently… and more quietly.
Piloted remotely or autonomously, UAVs have long provided extra “eyes in the sky” especially for missions that are too dangerous for manned aircraft. This latest technology is showcased by Ion Tiger, a UAV research program at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) that merges two separate efforts — UAV technology and fuel cell systems. (more…)
New $1.6 Million DoE Grant Supports Fuel Cell Manufacturing Innovations
Fuel Cell Membrane Handling System in the CATS lab space, located mainly on the Rensselaer Troy campus. (Courtesy CATS)
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have won a $1.6 million federal grant to develop new methods for manufacturing a key fuel cell component.
The multi-year grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy, aims to create new technology and processes for faster, more cost-effective manufacturing of fuel cell membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs). Comprised of a stacked proton exchange membrane (PEM), catalyst, and electrodes, MEAs are the heart and soul of a fuel cell.
“The new system we plan to develop is essentially a high-speed, high-quality assembly process for fuel cell MEAs,” said Ray Puffer, principle investigator of the project and program director for industrial automation at Rensselaer’s Center for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS). (more…)
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