Diamond motorglider to fly with fuel cell powerplant

[sternone]

Is this the future in 10 years ?

Diamond motorglider to fly with fuel cell powerplant
Boeing researchers and industry partners, including Diamond Aircraft, plan to conduct experimental flight tests this year of a manned airplane powered only by a fuel cell and lightweight batteries, in an effort to develop environmentally progressive technologies for aerospace applications.
Technical innovation comes from research and development. Diamond Aircraft has always been a leader in general aviation innovation, producing certified all composite aircraft since 1981, launching the Garmin G1000 glass cockpit, flying the first true modern certified personal light jet, and introducing modern powerplant technology to GA.
"With regards to powerplants, Diamond Aircraft introduced the Rotax 912 in our 2 seaters in 1990, and pioneered the application of turbo-diesel engines in our DA40-TDI and DA42," said Christian Dries, CEO of Diamond Aircraft. "It was therefore only natural for us to participate in this very innovative fuel cell demonstrator project that could open the possibilities to alternative energy and clean emission powerplants for future generations of GA aircraft."
For further information on the fuel cell powerplant program visit
http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2007/q1/070327e_nr.html
source: http://www.diamondair.com/news/2007_04_04.php
http://www.diamondair.com/images/news/2007_04_04/fuel_cell.jpg

[Willyboy]

It flew! Courtesy of The Age newspaper in Melbourne

US aircraft maker Boeing flew a plane that was powered by a hydrogen battery at the start of 2008 for the first time in aviation history, senior company officials said in Spain on Thursday.

"For the first time in the history of aviation, Boeing has flown a manned airplane that was powered by a hydrogen battery," Boeing chief technology officer John Tracy told a news conference at the firm's research centre in the central Spanish town of Ocana.

The plane, which used propellers, flew at a speed of 100 kilometres an hour for about 20 minutes at an altitude of about 1000 metres using only the hydrogen battery for power, Boeing said in a statement.

The director of the Ocana research centre, Francisco Escarti, said the hydrogen battery "could be the main source of energy for a small plane" but would likely not become the "primary soruce of energy for big passenger planes".

"The company will continue to explore their potential as well as that of all durable sources of energy that boost environmental performance," he said.

Tracy said the development was "a historical technological success for Boeing" and was "full of promises for a greener future".

"Boeing recognizes that pollution represents a serious environmental challenge," he added.

Amid rising fuel costs and mounting concerns over climate change, airlines are keen to find ways to cut their energy bills and the pollution which they emit.

Boeing's first new model in over a decade, the Dreamliner, used high-tech composites which reduces its weight and which the company says will make it consume 20 per cent less fuel than similar-sized planes already on the market.

Link: http://www.theage.com.au/news/news/boeing-tests-battery-plane/2008/04/04/1207249411282.html

[waveydavey]

BBC have footage.. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7330311.stm

[Pudnucker]

The person who can design an approved tank for the storage of hydrogen in aircraft and vehicles will make a fortune.. As will the person who comes up with an ecologically viable way of creating the energy needed for the electrolysis to create the hydrogen.... Both are major issues (conventional solar/wind is not viable for large quantities of electrical energy - nuclear/conventional is at the moment)...

This will eventually happen but the technology has a long way to go..