Peak-power supply for fuel-cell-powered aircraft
A comparative review with design implications
Publication date
2026-01-22
Document type
Konferenzbeitrag
Author
Organisational unit
Conference
2025 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo, Asia-Pacific (ITEC Asia-Pacific) ; Singapor ; November 25-28 , 2025
Publisher
IEEE
Book title
2025 IEEE Transportation Electrification Conference and Expo, Asia-Pacific (ITEC Asia-Pacific)
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
✅
Language
English
Keyword
Sustainable aviation
Fuel cells
Regional aircraft
Electric propulsion
Hybrid architectures
Hydrogen aviation
Abstract
Fuel-cell electric propulsion represents a promising technology to meet future emission targets for regional aviation or even allow for zero local emissions. This work aims to comparatively study three possibilities to provide the additional takeoff or climb-power demand using a representative scenario. An overview and review of the estimating process is given to help with design decision-making. The present study assumes a reference scenario of a hydrogen-electric regional airliner, specifically a 70-seat turboprop with a mission range of 1,000 nautical miles. The proposed architectures are compared based on resulting peak power density, incremental system mass, including the thermal management system, its complexity and integration effort, effects on fuel-cell stack degradation, emissions, and the technological readiness level. The results suggest that hydrogen turbogenerators are the most promising approach for providing takeoff and climb power in future hydrogen electric regional aircraft, provided that emission control and integration challenges can be addressed.
Version
Published version
Access right on openHSU
Metadata only access