• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.04a
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• pp.219-221
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• 2011

This paper reports the development trend of small fuel cell unmanned aerial vehicles. Development method of a fuel cell propulsion system for small unmanned aerial vehicles is proposed and discussed, such as the lightweight fuel cell stack development, liquid fuel-based hydrogen storage/generation, and fuel cell system technology.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.13-16
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• 2007

Fuel cell was used as a propulsion system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in the present study. Fuel cell propulsion system are an ideal alternative power source with high energy density for high-endurance UAV. Fuel cell power system provides UAV up to five times the energy densiη of existing batteries. Sodium borohydride, stored in liquid state, was selected as a hydrogen source. Hydrogen generation system consists of catalytic reactor, pump, fuel cartridge, and separator. Hybrid power management system (PMS) between fuel cell and lithium-polymer ba야ery was developed. Motor, pump, and fans， operated on battery power controlled by feedback signals of fuel cell system. Battery was recharged by surpuls powr of fuel cell.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.87-90
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• 2007

Fuel cell power system was developed for high-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Liquid chemical hydride was selected as a fuel due to its high energy density. Liquid storage of the fuel is an ideal alternative solution of the existing compressed hydrogen storage. The fueling system that extracts hydrogen from chemical hydride consists of catalytic reactor, micro-pump, fuel cartridge, separator, and controller. The fuel cell power system including the fueling system and the fuel cell that generates electricity was integrated into a proposed UAV. The performance verification of the fuel cell power system was performed to use as a power plant of the UAV.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.39 no.7
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• pp.627-633
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• 2011

Performance of a hydrogen generator for a fuel cell unmanned aircraft was evaluated as the change of temperature environment. Sodium borohydride ($NaBH_4$) was used as a hydrogen source due to its high hydrogen content and good storability. The hydrogen gas was generated by the hydrolysis reaction using a catalytic reactor. Reaction chambers were set up with the range of temperatures from -20 to $60^{\circ}C$. The hydrogen generation rate and temperatures changes of reactor and separator were measured at the $NaBH_4$ concentrations of 20 and 25wt.%. As a result, the hydrogen generation rate was decreased as the repeated reaction cycles. It showed that the hydrogen generation rate was stable at low temperature, while at high temperature the hydrogen generation rate was rapidly decreased. The performance degradation was mainly caused by the catalyst loss and $NaBO_2$ deposition on the catalyst surface.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.153-156
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• 2012

The optimization and integration of a fuel cell were performed to improve the performance and reliability of the fuel cell in this paper. To improve the performance of the PEMFC, current and voltage of the fuel cell were measured using an electrical load, and the results was compared and analyzed with the data of a commercial fuel cell. Based on the above results, a controller for a fuel cell UAV applications was designed, and the fuel cell control algorithm was developed to optimize the performance of the fuel cell UAV.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.49-55
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• 2013

This paper deals with the flight test of propulsion system of middle size electrically powered UAV (EAV2, Electric Aerial Vehicle 2) which is under development in KARI. EAV2 is low speed endurance type UAV whose wing span is 6.9 m, and weight is 18 kg. The UAV has flown for 22 hours in June of 2012. The flight test result showed that the propulsion system worked well suppling power for any circumstances during the test flight. Each power source worked according to the design purpose.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2011.11a
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• pp.772-776
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• 2011

EAV-2, which has a solar cell, fuel cell and battery as its power sources, is under development by KARI. Electric power sources are selected through voltage matching without power converter and controller and tested. The ground integrated test for integrated system is performed during 5 hr. it is confirmed that battery's power response is faster than other power sources at starting and transient condition, fuel cell and solar cell are a major electrical power during cruise condition. It is revealed that the used energy portions of fuel cell, solar cell and battery are 68%, 29%, 2.5% respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.296-303
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• 2015

The concentration of solute in a $NaBH_4$ solution is limited due to the low solubility of $NaBO_2$. The performance of a hydrogen generation system was evaluated using various concentrations of $NaBH_4$ solution. First, a self-hydrolysis test and a hydrogen generation test for 30 min were performed. The composition of $NaBH_4$ solution was selected to be 1 wt% NaOH + 25 wt% $NaBH_4$+74wt% $H_2O$ by considering the amount of hydrogen loss, stability of hydrogen generation, $NaBO_2$ precipitation, conversion efficiency, and the purpose of its application. A hydrogen generation system for a 200 W fuel cell was evaluated for 3 h. Although hydrogen generation rate decreased with time due to $NaBO_2$ precipitation, hydrogen was produced for 3 h (conversion efficiency: 87.4%). The energy density of the 200 W fuel cell system was 263 Wh/kg. A small unmanned aerial vehicle with this fuel cell system can achieve 1.5 times longer flight time than one flying on batteries.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.39 no.10
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• pp.959-965
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• 2011

A modeling and power simulation of a small UAV's electric propulsion systems is described. Each power source is modeled and simulated in Matlab/Simulink and it is compared flight test data during 4 hr 30 min with simulation results about 200 W electric propulsion system using fuel cell and battery as a main power sources. In result, it is properly simulated performance and dynamic characteristic of each electric power source. Through this, it is revealed that the simulation is available as a means of predicting power characteristic variation for electric propulsion systems of different class.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.149-152
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• 2012

This paper describes the study of integrated hydrogen supply system for environment friendly propulsion systems of fuel-cell UAV. Diluted hydrochloric acid was used for direct-decomposing solid-state $NaBH_4$ and generating hydrogen. Self-hydrogen pressurized reactor and pressure regulator was introduced for stable hydrogen supply. Prototype of integrated hydrogen supply systems using the solid-state $NaBH_4$ direct-decomposition was designed for performance evaluation and concept demonstration.