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
Very cool, can just imagine this tech powering small fixed wing manned electric propelled aircraft in the future. If the hydrogen could be produced locally and relatively cheaply then this could help bring GA back to life?