{"id":12806,"date":"2020-09-28T18:54:28","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T01:54:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=12806"},"modified":"2020-09-28T18:54:28","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T01:54:28","slug":"a-dash-of-hydrogen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/a-dash-of-hydrogen\/","title":{"rendered":"A Dash of Hydrogen"},"content":{"rendered":"

Getting the Parts Free, Charged for Refills<\/strong><\/h4>\n

What if future flight had a simple \u201creturn the old fuel container and get a new one\u201d business model?\u00a0 Paul Eremenko, founder of California startup Universal Hydrogen, wants to try it out in a Dash 8 airliner<\/a> equipped with two 2-megawatt motors supplied by MagniX.<\/p>\n

Poor analogy perhaps, but in his boyhood, your editor had a camera that was sold at the store complete with a roll of film already inside.\u00a0 All you had to do when you took all your pictures was send it by mail, with a check or money order, and a week later, you got the reloaded camera back with the prints and negatives of your pictures.\u00a0 This klunky, pre-digital plan carried over from Kodak\u2019s version 100 years before.<\/p>\n

Today, with digital photography having supplanted those earlier, more tedious processes, we save on postage and wasted photos. Let\u2019s face it \u2013 we all like rapid rewards and instant gratification.\u00a0 Charging your electric airplane takes hours and some of us just can\u2019t wait around.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Loading cycle would form closed loop with H2 made locally if possible<\/p><\/div>\n

Universal Hydrogen will supply hydrogen fuel modules directly from their production facilities to the aircraft.\u00a0 Universal offers, \u201cTo cover all or part of the conversion kit costs for the new propulsion system in return for long-term contracts to supply the hydrogen.\u201d\u00a0 This should encourage \u201cearly adoption\u201d and place new power systems in existing craft \u2013 speeding up the usage of H2 while manufacturers develop new designs more optimal for its use.<\/p>\n

True Believers<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Eremenko, his fellow Universal founders and partner Roei Ganzarski, CEO of magniX<\/a> are true believers \u2013 in the best sense of the term \u2013 in the future of electric aviation.\u00a0 MagniX runs its electric motors from batteries, as on its DeHavilland Beaver and Cessna Caravan conversions. Universal plans on running two of the largest MagniX motors to date on its DeHavilland Canada Dash 8 conversion.\u00a0 The Dash 8 is officially a DHC8-Q300, and is now manufactured by Bombadier as a Q8.\u00a0 The same system can be applied to the Avions Transport R\u00e9gional ATR 42 family.<\/p>\n

The kit proposed by the partnership will use twin two-megawatt motors \u2013 the largest for MagniX and possibly all of electric aviation.\u00a0 Although the motor is a more powerful version of the MagniX line, the fuel system will be different.\u00a0 Eremenko plans to change the way hydrogen is delivered to the aircraft though packaging the element in modular form.<\/p>\n

According to AIN Online, \u201cUniversal Hydrogen\u2019s response has been to treat the fuel as dry freight and find a safe, efficient way to maintain supply to airlines. Its modules, which measure about\u00a0seven feet long and three feet in diameter, can carry the hydrogen in liquid or compressed gas form to be loaded into the back of the aircraft via standard cargo loading equipment or a forklift.\u201d\u00a0 Modules would be delivered directly from H2 manufacturing plants, presumably close at hand.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

If filled with water, each module would hold about 208 gallons.\u00a0 They can be stacked in racks so that 54 would fit inside a standard freight shipping container.<\/p><\/div>\n

An additional partnership with Plug Power, a fuel cell creator,<\/a> links the fuel and the motors.\u00a0 “The carbon-free propulsion system will incorporate a lightweight Plug Power ProGen-based hydrogen fuel cell stack designed for aerospace applications and Universal Hydrogen\u2019s modular hydrogen distribution and fuel cell delivery system.”<\/p>\n