Airbus Virtue-signals Future hydrogen-powered Airliner
Airbus is engineering novel cryogenic hydrogen storage tanks to support future aircraft fueled by liquid hydrogen, according to a blog published by the company last week.
They call them cold hearts, and they are at the center of their new hydrogen-based ZEROe aircraft.
“Hydrogen is key to our mission to bring zero-emissions aircraft to market by 2035, but it needs to be stored at an exceptionally chilly -253°C. To use this technology means developing innovative cryogenic hydrogen storage tanks. Luckily, we have teams around our network with just the right set of skills to build them,” said the company in its blog.
Airbus goes on to explain that there are two main technologies that enable an aircraft to fly directly with hydrogen: powering an engine with hydrogen combustion through modified gas turbine engines or using hydrogen fuel cells to create electrical power.
Another option is a hybrid approach that uses a mixture of both technologies.
Hydrogen has to be kept very cold
“But regardless of these options there is a constant at work: hydrogen has to be kept very cold. It needs to be stored at -253°C, and kept at that temperature consistently throughout the whole flight, even when the tanks are depleted,” further explained the plane manufacturer.
That’s why storage tanks for hydrogen-powered aircraft are such an essential component of future hydrogen-powered flight. However, they are tricky to engineer as they are completely different to those you might find on a traditional aircraft.
To develop these tanks Airbus established Zero Emission Development Centers (ZEDCs) in Nantes, France, and Bremen, Germany about 15 months ago that share the responsibility of spearheading this new technology. The tanks are manufactured in Nantes, and the coldboxes, which take care of the gasification of the liquid hydrogen, are produced in Bremen.
“It’s a real testament to the teamwork across our sites to see this first tank being manufactured so quickly. We want to optimize the tank for greater efficiency and to further reduce its environmental footprint: after all, a zero-emission aircraft needs to be as close to zero emission as possible throughout its whole life cycle,” said Chris Redfern, Head of Manufacturing, ZEROe Aircraft and Head of Propulsion Industrial Architect.
The engineers say that the next step is to look at the prototype with a critical eye and ask what they can do better. The team collects insights and testing data from this first model in order to work on a second prototype, to be filled with hydrogen.
The main goals of the team are to maximize space, improve performance, and simplify the manufacturing process. It will take around another year to build and test this second prototype and the final objective is to have a tank ready to install in the A380 demonstrator by 2026-2028.
The project will revolutionize how we fly. “We’re constantly looking to harness innovative technologies to help us achieve our goal of bringing zero-emissions aircraft to market by 2035,” concluded Airbus.
See more here interestingengineering.com
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T. C. Clark
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Zero Emission? H2O is a GH gas and adding H2O to high altitudes should add to GW according to …..theory?
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Dave
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Many years ago we had the Hindenburg, it didn’t work out too good.
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aaron
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The Hindenburg was a false flag to usher in airplane flight
same mo as used today, their playbook never changes because people trust and believe the lies of govt and corporations
belief and trust in authority will get you murdered
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Saighdear
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Huh, never mind all this virtue signalling: Look at the money they squandered on the A380. Did it do anyone any good ( like the Space race gave us Micro wave ovens ( and other bad micro wave products, etc etc ) ) Just more virtue signalling and then: looking at the past few days in the UK area: WHY is no one banging the drum for lack of Wind, WHY is no one gluing themselves to things BECAUSE “climate change” has produced NO WIND ….. so that producing more windNills is a total waste of time.
there is an increasing demand now in the UK ( 40.6GW @ lunchtime ) and wind only producing 16% really, never mind the %%%%%’s. L@@K at the output 6.6 ( SIX POINT SIX ) GW. I’m deafened by the silence
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Kevin Doyle
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Thank you Loukia Papadopoulos for the article.
A few questions for you and your readers to ponder:
1) How does one chill Hydrogen to -253 Celsius?
Answer: With expensive machines which use lots and lots of electricity to transfer heat from the Hydrogen gas to make it cold. Think of an air-conditioner on steroids.
2) How does freezing cold CO2 at 30,000 elevation, emitted by the jet engine actually warm the surface of Earth?
Answer: It is not physically possible for any gas colder than the surface of Earth to ‘warm’ the surface. Basic Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer.
The air temperature at the top of the Matterhorn at 15,000 feet is below freezing. The air temperature on top of Mt. Everest at 30,000 ft varies from a balmy -20 to a chilly -60 Celsius.
Unfortunately, the politicians and ‘environmental scientists’ promoting ‘CO2 Greenhouse Gas Theory’ are 100% technically illiterate in basic Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer. Yet, we allow these delusional fools to destroy our civilization.
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Auntie Vaxina
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Has anyone studied the energy used and cost of producing H? How about comparing carbon foot prints of the entire process – design, develop, fly the H v. Oil planes?
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