World's First Fuel Cell Multirotor
EnergyOr Technologies Inc., a developer of advanced PEM fuel cell systems, recently demonstrated what are believed to be the world’s first fuel cell powered and longest ever duration multirotor VTOL UAV flights, flying for a record 2 hours, 12 minutes and 46 seconds.
This demonstration was performed to highlight EnergyOr’s improvements in overall fuel cell system specific power (Watts/kg), a critical requirement for multirotor UAVs, while still maintaining an exceptional specific energy (Watt-hours/kg), allowing flight times that are 2 to 3 times longer than those possible with state-of-the-art, rechargeable Lithium Polymer (LiPo) batteries.
A conventional, commercial heavy lifting Quadrotor airframe was used to ensure versatility for a wide range of applications, with the aircraft’s AUW at 9.5 kg and payloads up to 1 kg. Further optimization will be performed in the coming months and EnergyOr expects to improve upon these results by extending the flight endurance with similar payloads up to 4 hours.
Source: YouTube
