HyFlyFuelCells - hydrogen fuel cells performance at altitude

** 区域短途航空脱碳 ** 国际民用航空组织（ICAO）强调，如果不采取进一步行动，航空业在全球二氧化碳排放量中所占的份额可能会上升，因为全球对该行业的审查将增加。在新冠肺炎旅行限制的影响之后，对航班的需求正在反弹，最近预测到2050年，欧洲每年的航班量将从1320万到2020万不等。1960万（比照2019年1100万次航班）（EuroControl，2022）。航空业占全球碳排放量的2.4%（ICCT）和运输业贡献的12%（ATAG），然而，在这一领域，几乎没有迹象表明在减少排放或减少需求方面取得了有意义的进展。新的气候模拟技术表明，航空排放物正在以航空二氧化碳排放率的3倍左右加热气候仅排放物--包括氮氧化物、硫氧化物和其他颗粒物，如烟灰以及所涉及的凝结尾迹--即使使用可持续航空燃料（SAF）也会存在（EASA，2022）。因此，迫切需要其他的解决方案来减少航空业的碳排放。燃料电池已经被提议用于航空应用--其中氢PEM燃料电池最适合该工业的苛刻要求。各种项目处于不同的开发阶段（HyFlyer II，H2 Gear），许多公司正在研究这一挑战（ZeroAvia，克兰菲尔德航空航天解决方案，劳斯莱斯，GKN，MTU）航空技术研究所（ATI）的FlyZero项目研究了各种场景和飞机类型。他们预测，到2050年，将有4，500至870架燃料电池驱动的支线飞机。由于其低成本和高耐用性，Clean Power的新型氢燃料电池技术是为这些支线飞机提供动力的有力候选者。该项目将评估我们目前的燃料电池系统是否适合在具有挑战性的航空环境中工作。性能测试将与WMG合作，在一个专门的航空测试室中进行，该测试室能够模拟在相关温度和空气密度的高度巡航。对于传统的PEM燃料电池架构，海拔高度处的低空气密度表示对在燃料电池的阴极处发生的氧还原反应（ORR）的进一步挑战。在清洁能源的燃料电池中，ORR发生在远离燃料电池堆的地方，可以提供更多的时间和表面积来科普降低的空气密度。该项目将测试Clean Power的燃料电池非常适合航空应用的假设。

**Decarbonising regional short haul aviation**The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) highlighted that, if no further action is taken, aviation's share of global CO2 emissions could rise with worldwide scrutiny on the sector set to increase.Demand for flights is rebounding after the impact of COVID travel restrictions and a recent forecast for yearly European flight by 2050 ranges from 13.2 million to 19.6 million (cf. 11 million flights in 2019) (EuroControl, 2022).Aviation represents around 2.4% of global carbon emissions (ICCT) and 12% of transport's contribution (ATAG), however, there are few signs of meaningful progress with emissions reductions or reduced demand in this sector.New climate modelling techniques indicate that aviation emissions are heating the climate at about x3 the rate of CO2 aviation emissions alone -- with NOx, SOx and other particulates like soot together with contrails implicated -- which are present even when Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) are used (EASA, 2022).Therefore, other solutions to decarbonise the aviation sector are urgently sought.Fuel cells have been proposed for aviation applications -- with hydrogen PEM fuel cells having the closest fit to the demanding requirements of this industry. Various projects are at different stages of development (HyFlyerII, H2Gear) and a number of companies investigating this challenge (ZeroAvia, Cranfield Aerospace Solutions, Rolls Royce, GKN, MTU)The Aviation Technology Institute's (ATI) FlyZero project looked at various scenarios and aircraft types. They predict that by 2050 there will be between 4,500 to 870 fuel cell powered regional aircraft by 2050\.Clean Power's novel hydrogen fuel cell technology is a strong candidate for powering these regional aircraft due to its low cost and high durability. This project will assess the fit of our current fuel cell systems to work in the challenging aviation environment. Performance tests will be conducted in partnership with WMG in a specialised aviation test chamber capable of simulating cruising at altitudes with the associated temperatures and air densities. For traditional PEM fuel cell architectures the low air densities at altitude represent a further challenge to the Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) which takes place at the Cathode of the fuel cell. In Clean Power's fuel cells the ORR takes place away from the fuel cell stack and more time and surface area can be afforded to cope with the reduced air densities. This project will test the hypothesis that Clean Power's fuel cells are well suited to aviation applications.