World's First High Performance Aviation Fuel Cell Compressor "Aviation sustainability" is the current buzz phase but some manufacturers, airframers and developers are moving full-steam ahead with projects that positively affect the direction that sustainability will be going in the next few years. One such endeavour is the development of hydrogen-electric power generation for aviation. Company ZeroAvia has been at the forefront with their ZA600 hydrogen-electric powertrain but they also just created the world's first high-performance compressor for fuel cell-based aviation propulsion systems.
The compressor is a world first which has been designed and tested specifically to comply with all requirements relating to hydrogen fuel cell-powered aviation propulsion systems. ZeroAvia’s breakthrough enables the company to incorporate the technology as a core part of its first two hydrogen-electric engines: the ZA600 for 9 to19 seat aircraft targeting entry-in-service by 2025, and the ZA2000 for 40 to 80 seat aircraft with entry into service carded for 2027.
Initial testing of the ZeroAvia compressor indicates that it offers highly stable performance across a large range of power and operating environment requirements. Supporting up to 900kW fuel cell systems, the compressor is many times more powerful than any existing fuel cell compressors and offers superior power density. This weight efficient system coupled with stable performance across a wide range of parameters makes ZeroAvia’s compressor technology an attractive solution for high-power and high-altitude transport applications. The compressor has been designed to meet all environmental conditions and aerospace standards, and the company plans certification testing to begin over the course of the next year. For more information: ZeroAvia Hangar C2 Cotswold Airport, Kemble, Cirencester, England, GL7 6BA www.zeroavia.com ***
