IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i16p4193-d1461906.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Review on Key Technologies and Developments of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Multi-Rotor Drones

Author

Listed:
  • Zenan Shen

    (China Coal Technology and Engineering Group Corp., Beijing 100020, China)

  • Shaoquan Liu

    (China Coal Technology and Engineering Group Corp., Beijing 100020, China
    Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Wei Zhu

    (China Coal Technology and Engineering Group Corp., Beijing 100020, China)

  • Daoyuan Ren

    (China Coal Technology and Engineering Group Corp., Beijing 100020, China)

  • Qiang Xu

    (China Coal Technology and Engineering Group Corp., Beijing 100020, China)

  • Yu Feng

    (China Coal Technology and Engineering Group Corp., Beijing 100020, China)

Abstract

Multi-rotor drones, a kind of unmanned equipment which is widely used in the military, commercial consumption and other fields, have been developed very rapidly in recent years. However, their short flight time has hindered the expansion of their application range. This can be addressed by utilizing hydrogen fuel cells, which exhibit high energy density, strong adaptability to ambient temperature, and no pollution emissions, as the power source. Accordingly, the application of hydrogen fuel cells as the power source in multi-rotor drones is a promising technology that has attracted significant research attention. This paper summarizes the development process of hydrogen fuel cell multi-rotor drones and analyzes the key obstacles that need to be addressed for the further development of hydrogen fuel cell multi-rotor drones, including structural light weight, hydrogen storage methods, energy management strategies, thermal management, etc. Additionally, prospects for the future development of hydrogen fuel cell multi-rotor drones are presented.

Suggested Citation

  • Zenan Shen & Shaoquan Liu & Wei Zhu & Daoyuan Ren & Qiang Xu & Yu Feng, 2024. "A Review on Key Technologies and Developments of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Multi-Rotor Drones," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-36, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:16:p:4193-:d:1461906
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/16/4193/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/16/4193/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhan, Zhigang & Yuan, Chong & Hu, Zhangrong & Wang, Hui & Sui, P.C. & Djilali, Ned & Pan, Mu, 2018. "Experimental study on different preheating methods for the cold-start of PEMFC stacks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1029-1040.
    2. Bai, Xingying & Jian, Qifei, 2023. "Experimental study of a passive thermal management system using vapor chamber for proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    3. Belmonte, N. & Staulo, S. & Fiorot, S. & Luetto, C. & Rizzi, P. & Baricco, M., 2018. "Fuel cell powered octocopter for inspection of mobile cranes: Design, cost analysis and environmental impacts," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 556-565.
    4. Kwon, Soon-mo & Kim, Myoung Jin & Kang, Shinuang & Kim, Taegyu, 2019. "Development of a high-storage-density hydrogen generator using solid-state NaBH4 as a hydrogen source for unmanned aerial vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Dario Floreano & Robert J. Wood, 2015. "Science, technology and the future of small autonomous drones," Nature, Nature, vol. 521(7553), pages 460-466, May.
    6. Zongru Liu & Jiyu Li, 2023. "Application of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Precision Agriculture," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-4, July.
    7. Shusheng Xiong & Zhankuan Wu & Wei Li & Daize Li & Teng Zhang & Yu Lan & Xiaoxuan Zhang & Shuyan Ye & Shuhao Peng & Zeyu Han & Jiarui Zhu & Qiujie Song & Zhixiao Jiao & Xiaofeng Wu & Heqing Huang, 2021. "Improvement of Temperature and Humidity Control of Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-14, September.
    8. Pan, Z.F. & An, L. & Wen, C.Y., 2019. "Recent advances in fuel cells based propulsion systems for unmanned aerial vehicles," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 240(C), pages 473-485.
    9. Li, Bing & Wan, Kechuang & Xie, Meng & Chu, Tiankuo & Wang, Xiaolei & Li, Xiang & Yang, Daijun & Ming, Pingwen & Zhang, Cunman, 2022. "Durability degradation mechanism and consistency analysis for proton exchange membrane fuel cell stack," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 314(C).
    10. Kurnia, Jundika C. & Chaedir, Benitta A. & Sasmito, Agus P. & Shamim, Tariq, 2021. "Progress on open cathode proton exchange membrane fuel cell: Performance, designs, challenges and future directions," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    11. Lin, Chien-Hung & Tsai, Sung-Ying, 2012. "An investigation of coated aluminium bipolar plates for PEMFC," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 87-92.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lin, Chen & Yan, Xiaohui & Wei, Guanghua & Ke, Changchun & Shen, Shuiyun & Zhang, Junliang, 2019. "Optimization of configurations and cathode operating parameters on liquid-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks by orthogonal method," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C), pages 1-1.
    2. Meng, Huanru & Yu, Xianxian & Luo, Xiaobing & Tu, Zhengkai, 2024. "Modelling and operation characteristics of air-cooled PEMFC with metallic bipolar plate used in unmanned aerial vehicle," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    3. Aihua Tang & Yuanhang Yang & Quanqing Yu & Zhigang Zhang & Lin Yang, 2022. "A Review of Life Prediction Methods for PEMFCs in Electric Vehicles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-18, August.
    4. Yuqi Han & Weilin Zhuge & Jie Peng & Yuping Qian & Yangjun Zhang, 2023. "Numerical Investigation on Internal Structures of Ultra-Thin Heat Pipes for PEM Fuel Cells Cooling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-22, January.
    5. Santos, Diogo F.M. & Ferreira, Rui B. & Falcão, D.S. & Pinto, A.M.F.R., 2022. "Evaluation of a fuel cell system designed for unmanned aerial vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    6. Stančin, H. & Mikulčić, H. & Wang, X. & Duić, N., 2020. "A review on alternative fuels in future energy system," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    7. Cabello González, G.M. & Toharias, Baltasar & Iranzo, Alfredo & Suárez, Christian & Rosa, Felipe, 2023. "Voltage distribution analysis and non-uniformity assessment in a 100 cm2 PEM fuel cell stack," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    8. Ilona Kulikovskikh & Sergej Prokhorov & Tomislav Lipić & Tarzan Legović & Tomislav Šmuc, 2019. "BioGD: Bio-inspired robust gradient descent," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(7), pages 1-19, July.
    9. Stöcker, Claudia & Bennett, Rohan & Koeva, Mila & Nex, Francesco & Zevenbergen, Jaap, 2022. "Scaling up UAVs for land administration: Towards the plateau of productivity," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    10. Yan, Wei-Mon & Lin, Jian-Cheng & Chen, Chen-Yu & Amani, Mohammad, 2023. "Performance evaluation of TiN/Ti coatings on the aluminum alloy bipolar plates for PEM fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    11. Yang, Yue & Yuan, Songmei & Liu, Jieyuan & Zhang, Zikang & Lu, Tie, 2024. "Effect of catalyst ink particle size on the structure of the catalyst layer and electrical performance in the process of ultrasonic spray manufacturing PEMFCs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    12. Becker, F. & Cosse, C. & Gentner, C. & Schulz, D. & Liphardt, L., 2024. "Novel electrochemical and thermodynamic conditioning approaches and their evaluation for open cathode PEM-FC stacks," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 363(C).
    13. Nicu Bizon & Mircea Raceanu & Emmanouel Koudoumas & Adriana Marinoiu & Emmanuel Karapidakis & Elena Carcadea, 2020. "Renewable/Fuel Cell Hybrid Power System Operation Using Two Search Controllers of the Optimal Power Needed on the DC Bus," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-26, November.
    14. Wang, Yujie & Sun, Zhendong & Chen, Zonghai, 2019. "Energy management strategy for battery/supercapacitor/fuel cell hybrid source vehicles based on finite state machine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    15. Pei, Pucheng & Wu, Ziyao & Li, Yuehua & Jia, Xiaoning & Chen, Dongfang & Huang, Shangwei, 2018. "Improved methods to measure hydrogen crossover current in proton exchange membrane fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 338-347.
    16. Kloster, Konstantin & Moeini, Mahdi & Vigo, Daniele & Wendt, Oliver, 2023. "The multiple traveling salesman problem in presence of drone- and robot-supported packet stations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 305(2), pages 630-643.
    17. Kim, Soohwan & Jeong, Hoyoung & Lee, Hoseong, 2021. "Cold-start performance investigation of fuel cell electric vehicles with heat pump-assisted thermal management systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
    18. Su, Guoqing & Yang, Daijun & Xiao, Qiangfeng & Dai, Haiqin & Zhang, Cunman, 2021. "Effects of vortexes in feed header on air flow distribution of PEMFC stack: CFD simulation and optimization for better uniformity," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 498-506.
    19. Haibo Huo & Jiajie Chen & Ke Wang & Fang Wang & Guangzhe Jin & Fengxiang Chen, 2023. "State Estimation of Membrane Water Content of PEMFC Based on GA-BP Neural Network," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, June.
    20. Yang, Zirong & Jiao, Kui & Wu, Kangcheng & Shi, Weilong & Jiang, Shangfeng & Zhang, Longhai & Du, Qing, 2021. "Numerical investigations of assisted heating cold start strategies for proton exchange membrane fuel cell systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:16:p:4193-:d:1461906. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.