Investigation of Potential Fuel Cell Use in Hybrid Driven Small Airplanes

Abstract

Aviation industry is a driving force and an excellent indicator of development level of a country, region or market. It can clearly reflect the economic raising of a given region. In order to satisfy the increasing demand for fuel, continuous supply is needed, which is found to be difficult in many aspects. In short term, complementary alternative fuels will be set in the first place, however, the withdrawal of fossils fuels from the world market must be taken also into account in long term relations. This deficit can be solved by the application of alternative fuels. One option is the use of hydrogen cells or fuel cells. The fuel cell is actually a continuous electrochemical galvanic battery, that can convert the chemical energy of its fuel directly to electric energy. Present paper intends to introduce hydrogen cells and provide an insight into their construction and operation. The potential of fuel cell use, with special regard to hybrid driven small aircrafts at conceptual level, will be discussed in the second half of the article.