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Fuel up: This A320 has fuel cells that power its front wheels. A similar aircraft will use hydrogen fuel cells for many more of its nonpropulsion systems.

Hydrogen fuel cells are nowhere near powerful enough to replace a commercial aircraft’s engines, but that doesn’t mean they can’t help make air travel cleaner and more efficient.

Airbus plans flight tests of a fuel-cell system that could reduce fuel consumption by as much as 15 percent simply by powering an aircraft’s nonpropulsion systems—such as the lights, the entertainment system, and the environmental controls.



Besides the lights, entertainment system, and environment controls, the fuel cell will power the avionics, the hydraulics, and the system used to keep fuel tanks safe by maintaining artificially low oxygen levels. Currently, an aircraft’s main engines produce electrical power for these systems during a flight while a separate auxiliary power unit—a small turbine often contained within the tail—powers them on the ground.

“The advantage of a fuel cell is, you have direct conversion of energy from chemical to electrical,” says Michel Loignon, an engineering manager at Parker Aerospace. “We’re taking a collection of reasonably mature technologies and integrating them.”


There are other savings to be had. “[The fuel cell] breathes air, so it will displace oxygen and generate water,” says Rolf. This means the system could reduce the amount of water the aircraft needs to carry at takeoff; on some large airliners that water can weigh as much as 3,000 pounds. The oxygen could also help keep the fuel tanks stable. These savings will eventually be combined with electric-powered wheels for taxiing. “In the commercial implementation, we are hoping to achieve north of 15 percent” overall fuel savings, says Rolf.

“In the long term, it’s a good idea,” says William Crowther, an aerospace engineer at Manchester University, in the U.K. But he cautions that fuel cells can be bulky, which can sometimes be more of an issue than weight on an aircraft. He also notes that carrying hydrogen on board will introduce new safety challenges.

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Credit: Airbus

Tagged: Energy, fuel cell, fuel cells

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