2024-01-03 05:31:00
the essentials In Toulouse, the Higher Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Isae-Supaero) took on the challenge of developing a hydrogen-powered drone capable of traveling several thousand kilometers. The project is already well advanced.
Crossing the South Atlantic on the legendary Aéropostale line linking Dakar in Senegal to Natal in Brazil, with a light electric drone, in total autonomy and without emitting CO2, is the crazy challenge that Isae has set itself -Supaero and Delair for 2025. For this 3,000 kilometer flight, the drone will of course not be powered by batteries for obvious questions of autonomy. The demonstrator will be electrically propelled by an energy assembly combining a fuel cell powered by liquid hydrogen and photovoltaic panels. The four-meter wingspan drone will weigh 15 kg. At an average speed of 80 km/h, the team is counting on 36 hours to make the crossing.
Hydrogen-electric propulsion: a way to increase the autonomy of drones
Hydrogen is one of the most promising energies for decarbonizing aviation. For drones, hydrogen-electric propulsion will above all significantly increase their autonomy. This will have the effect of reducing the costs of certain missions carried out today by plane or helicopter, such as the search for shipwrecked people at sea, the surveillance of forests to identify the start of fires, or the inspection of large linear networks (lines electricity, railways, gas pipelines, etc.).
Jean-Marc Moschetta, teacher-researcher at Isae-Supaero and head of the ISAE-SUPAERO project
A long-endurance flight for a carbon-free future
Called “Mermoz”, in connection with the legendary figure of Aéropostale, this challenge should make it possible to test new technologies that can subsequently be used on drones of course but not only. “What is very interesting regarding this project for an aeronautical engineering training organization like ours,” explains Jean-Marc Moschetta, teacher-researcher at Isae-Supaero and responsible for the project, “is first of all to give our students the ability to develop skills in disruptive technologies for low-carbon aviation. Afterwards, the other use, for the industry this time, is to serve as a testing platform, a first step, towards larger carbon-free aviation, firstly for light aviation then regional aviation. . »
The Mermoz drone powered by hydrogen gas made its first test flight just a year ago. ISAE-SUPAERO
First test flight carried out
To carry out this project co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Occitanie Region, the school has been working since 2018 in partnership with H3 Dynamics, world leader in airborne hydrogen-electric propulsion systems. It resulted in four demonstrators. Two were built to conduct wind tunnel tests, another to conduct studies with photovoltaic panels and a fourth to test gaseous hydrogen propulsion. This latest demonstrator carried out its first radio-controlled test flight almost a year ago. It took place on January 20, 2023 at the Muret aeromodelling club. Its design is inspired by albatross which use atmospheric turbulence to fly for a very long time while limiting their efforts.
Around ten people are working on this ISAE-SUPAERO project
A drone powered by liquid hydrogen
Next challenge for Isae-Supaero: developing a version operating this time with liquid hydrogen. Storing hydrogen in this form has a major advantage, it allows the quantity of hydrogen on board to be tripled for the same volume, which allows the distance that can be crossed to be multiplied accordingly. This will be essential to cross the Atlantic Ocean. But liquid hydrogen nevertheless raises a certain number of technical challenges, in particular that of mastering the thermal control of the fluid on board. The hydrogen will in fact have to go from a liquid state, -253° Celsius, to a gaseous state. “The conversion happens naturally,” explains Jean-Marc Moschetta. We switch to a gaseous state as soon as we pass above -253°C. Typically as soon as liquid hydrogen is drawn off, it comes out at around -180°C, so it is clearly gaseous. But to supply the fuel cell optimally, it must be heated further so that it reaches a temperature of around thirty degrees. » Flight tests of this liquid hydrogen drone are planned for the beginning of the year.
For the long crossing, it will be necessary to combine liquid hydrogen and photovoltaic panels on a single drone. There is therefore still a lot of work ahead and many difficulties to overcome, but as Jean Mermoz said, “it is failures well tolerated that give the right to succeed.”
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