New Hydrogen-Powered Drone Will Be Environment-Friendly

New Hydrogen-Powered Drone Will Be Environment-Friendly

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A research project at the American University of Sharjah, UAE, has resulted in a multi-propeller drone powered by a hydrogen fuel cell being flown in front of the main university building. It has been described as the first time such a craft has been flown outside North America. The hydrogen cell system used was bought in, although the group has worked on developing its own, reports thenational.ae.

“Working with a hydrogen fuel cell it can stay in the air two to three hours. For a drone powered by a battery, it can stay only for 25 minutes. It’s designed for longer endurance,” says Prof Mohamed Gadalla, of the mechanical engineering department. “It has an autonomous system, automatic pilot.”

The chemical reaction that releases the energy does not produce greenhouse gases. And unlike battery-powered drones, the process does not end with spent batteries that must be disposed of. A small amount of energy from a battery is needed to power the input from the controller.

The research in Sharjah is part of wider efforts to look at what applications hydrogen power could be put to. Other applications include using it in cars.

“We’re trying to get to cleaner sources of power. That would be by using wind or solar or any other renewable source of power to produce hydrogen by electrolysis” (the process of splitting water into its constituent parts – hydrogen and oxygen), said Dr Ahmad El Kharouf, who researches fuel cells in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of Birmingham in the UK.

While small drones might be designed to carry 2 kilograms or so, Prof Gadalla’s group is attempting to build something much more powerful. Their current aim is to produce a drone that can carry a payload of 20kg. “We’re designing a winch system – [so that] it can drop the payload in the location that you need,” says Prof Gadalla. And their ultimate goal is even more ambitious – a drone that can lift 60kg. “We need a very powerful fuel cell or we integrate many of them,” he adds.