Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, September 10 (Xinhua)-- German hydrogen startup H2FLY has been quietly working on a major milestone in zero-emission aviation during the summer at a small airport in Maribor, Slovenia. Their efforts finally bear fruit, successfully completing the world's first manned flight using liquid hydrogen as fuel. The flight marks the successful completion of the EU-funded HEAVEN project, which aims to demonstrate the feasibility of using liquid, cryogenic hydrogen in aircraft.

A few days ago, HY4 and his two pilots flew in the air for three hours and a minute, consuming 10 kilograms of hydrogen. The aircraft has a maximum storage capacity of 24 kilograms and can fly for eight hours.

One of the pilots, Johannes Garbino-Anton, said after the flight: "it feels great. It's a perfect teamwork. The technology" works perfectly. "the biggest difference from ordinary aircraft is that there is no vibration or noise. Of course, there are no carbon dioxide emissions."

H2FLY's power system consists of hydrogen storage devices, 120kW fuel cell energy converters and motors, which is the eighth flight test activity of H2FLY. The hydrogen-electric hybrid HY4 has been flying since 2016, but this summer made a breakthrough, using liquid hydrogen instead of gaseous hydrogen as fuel, which has a higher energy density than gaseous hydrogen and can significantly reduce the weight and volume of the fuel tank. In the field of air transport, especially when retrofitting aircraft, this means that there is no need to remove too many passenger seats or reduce cargo space, that is, payload. But more importantly, it unlocks a larger voyage. For the HY4 tester, it can fly 750km using gaseous hydrogen and 1500 km, or twice the distance, using liquid hydrogen. However, liquid hydrogen requires a low temperature (about-253 °C), which increases the complexity of transportation and refueling.

HY4 is made of fiberglass and carbon fiber and will not be put into commercial production. H2FLY's next step is to expand the fuel cell system to megawatt capacity, the H2F-175 system will not only achieve a longer range, but also reach a height of 27000 feet (CTOnews.com Note: about 8229 meters). In cooperation with Deutsche Aircraft, they plan to convert a 30-seat Dornier 328 demonstration aircraft with H2FLY's hydrogen fuel cell, and plan to start test flights in 2025.

H2FLY was founded in 2015 by five engineers from the German Aerospace Center in Stuttgart and the University of Ulm. The company is committed to the development of the entire power system, but also develops components if necessary. In 2021, H2FLY was acquired by California company Joby Aviation, which is developing an electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle (eVTOL) to provide air taxi service.

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