California-based zero-carbon-emissions aviation company Universal Hydrogen has announced that it has successfully run a megawatt-class fuel cell powertrain using its proprietary liquid hydrogen module to supply the fuel.
‘This is the largest fuel cell powertrain ever to run on liquid hydrogen,’ said Mark Cousin, the company’s president and CTO, ‘making it another in a series of firsts for Universal Hydrogen.’
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The liquid hydrogen module powered the company’s ‘iron bird’ ground test rig for more than an hour and 40 minutes, simulating a regional aircraft flight profile. The iron bird is a functional analogue of the powertrain that Universal Hydrogen has been flight testing since March 2023.
The company’s liquid hydrogen module holds enough fuel to power the iron bird for more than three hours at full power, with two such modules sufficient for 500 nautical miles (926 kilometres) of usable range (on top of reserves) for an ATR72 regional airliner. This demonstration, conducted at the Mojave Air and Space Port, is the first time the company’s module and powertrain have been integrated together, marking another significant accomplishment on the path toward entry into passenger service, which is planned for 2026.
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Developed at Universal Hydrogen’s engineering and design centre in Toulouse, France, the liquid hydrogen module is the core of the company’s fuel services offering for aviation. It internalises all of the complexity of managing cryogenic hydrogen, while externally presenting a simple container interface compatible with existing intermodal freight and airport cargo handling equipment.
The module contains about 200 kilograms of liquid hydrogen and is capable of storing it for long durations without boiloff. The module contains systems to convert cryogenic liquid hydrogen into warm gaseous hydrogen, which is then consumed by the powertrain. It also incorporates features such as hydrogen leak detection and venting systems for safe operations, as well as a leak-proof quick-connect for easy installation and removal of the module from the aircraft.
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‘This end-to-end demonstration of a hydrogen molecule moving from our filler/dispenser into our storage module and then into our powertrain is the first time that all the pieces of our product portfolio for regional aviation have come together,’ said Paul Eremenko, co-founder and CEO of Universal Hydrogen. ‘The next step is to upgrade our flight testbed to fly the powertrain fuelled by our modules.’
The demonstration comes on the heels of Universal Hydrogen’s recent demonstration of another use case for its modular fuelling technology – a hydrogen-powered charger for airport ground-support equipment.