Investigation On The Use Of Fuel Cell Technology On Aircraft Electrical System

Abstract

Fuel Cells have been used on various thing including laptops, cell phones, and transports such as cars and even airplanes. Fuel Cells are able to reduce emissions, gains thermal efficiency, and one of the promising candidates to achieve a greener future. This work is trying to understand whether on-board fuel cell systems are technically suitable to be used on aircraft electrical system. The aircraft electrical system includes lighting system, navigation system, radio system, emergency system, and other avionic systems. If they are suitable, they could offer a performance advantage for the airplane compared to using today’s technology. Moreover, electrical source for the electrical system that was used today still has a lot of problem or disadvantages that might be able to be solved by using fuel cell technology. The result from the analysis shows that it is possible to deploy direct methanol fuel cell on aircraft electrical system. However, when considering other factors such as system redundancy, capital cost, and hydrogen availability, the result might be different. The possibility to use direct methanol fuel cell to power the electrical load will also decreased and further research need to be done.