GB2612973A - Aircraft fuel cell propulsion unit with hybrid jet boost - Google Patents

Aircraft fuel cell propulsion unit with hybrid jet boost Download PDF

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Publication number
GB2612973A
GB2612973A GB2116561.8A GB202116561A GB2612973A GB 2612973 A GB2612973 A GB 2612973A GB 202116561 A GB202116561 A GB 202116561A GB 2612973 A GB2612973 A GB 2612973A
Authority
GB
United Kingdom
Prior art keywords
electric motor
fuel cell
propeller
hydrogen
unit
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Pending
Application number
GB2116561.8A
Other versions
GB202116561D0 (en
Inventor
James Roberts Jonathan
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Individual
Original Assignee
Individual
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Individual filed Critical Individual
Priority to GB2116561.8A priority Critical patent/GB2612973A/en
Publication of GB202116561D0 publication Critical patent/GB202116561D0/en
Publication of GB2612973A publication Critical patent/GB2612973A/en
Pending legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64D—EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLIGHT SUITS; PARACHUTES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSION TRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT
    • B64D27/00—Arrangement or mounting of power plants in aircraft; Aircraft characterised by the type or position of power plants
    • B64D27/02—Aircraft characterised by the type or position of power plants
    • B64D27/24—Aircraft characterised by the type or position of power plants using steam or spring force
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
    • F02C—GAS-TURBINE PLANTS; AIR INTAKES FOR JET-PROPULSION PLANTS; CONTROLLING FUEL SUPPLY IN AIR-BREATHING JET-PROPULSION PLANTS
    • F02C3/00—Gas-turbine plants characterised by the use of combustion products as the working fluid
    • F02C3/20—Gas-turbine plants characterised by the use of combustion products as the working fluid using a special fuel, oxidant, or dilution fluid to generate the combustion products
    • F02C3/22—Gas-turbine plants characterised by the use of combustion products as the working fluid using a special fuel, oxidant, or dilution fluid to generate the combustion products the fuel or oxidant being gaseous at standard temperature and pressure
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64D—EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLIGHT SUITS; PARACHUTES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSION TRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT
    • B64D27/00—Arrangement or mounting of power plants in aircraft; Aircraft characterised by the type or position of power plants
    • B64D27/02—Aircraft characterised by the type or position of power plants
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64D—EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLIGHT SUITS; PARACHUTES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSION TRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT
    • B64D27/00—Arrangement or mounting of power plants in aircraft; Aircraft characterised by the type or position of power plants
    • B64D27/02—Aircraft characterised by the type or position of power plants
    • B64D27/026—Aircraft characterised by the type or position of power plants comprising different types of power plants, e.g. combination of a piston engine and a gas-turbine
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64D—EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLIGHT SUITS; PARACHUTES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSION TRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT
    • B64D27/00—Arrangement or mounting of power plants in aircraft; Aircraft characterised by the type or position of power plants
    • B64D27/02—Aircraft characterised by the type or position of power plants
    • B64D27/16—Aircraft characterised by the type or position of power plants of jet type
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64D—EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLIGHT SUITS; PARACHUTES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSION TRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT
    • B64D37/00—Arrangements in connection with fuel supply for power plant
    • B64D37/30—Fuel systems for specific fuels
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
    • F02K—JET-PROPULSION PLANTS
    • F02K3/00—Plants including a gas turbine driving a compressor or a ducted fan
    • F02K3/02—Plants including a gas turbine driving a compressor or a ducted fan in which part of the working fluid by-passes the turbine and combustion chamber
    • F02K3/04—Plants including a gas turbine driving a compressor or a ducted fan in which part of the working fluid by-passes the turbine and combustion chamber the plant including ducted fans, i.e. fans with high volume, low pressure outputs, for augmenting the jet thrust, e.g. of double-flow type
    • F02K3/06—Plants including a gas turbine driving a compressor or a ducted fan in which part of the working fluid by-passes the turbine and combustion chamber the plant including ducted fans, i.e. fans with high volume, low pressure outputs, for augmenting the jet thrust, e.g. of double-flow type with front fan
    • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
    • F02—COMBUSTION ENGINES; HOT-GAS OR COMBUSTION-PRODUCT ENGINE PLANTS
    • F02K—JET-PROPULSION PLANTS
    • F02K5/00—Plants including an engine, other than a gas turbine, driving a compressor or a ducted fan
    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B64—AIRCRAFT; AVIATION; COSMONAUTICS
    • B64D—EQUIPMENT FOR FITTING IN OR TO AIRCRAFT; FLIGHT SUITS; PARACHUTES; ARRANGEMENT OR MOUNTING OF POWER PLANTS OR PROPULSION TRANSMISSIONS IN AIRCRAFT
    • B64D41/00—Power installations for auxiliary purposes
    • B64D2041/005—Fuel cells
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02T—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION
    • Y02T50/00—Aeronautics or air transport
    • Y02T50/60—Efficient propulsion technologies, e.g. for aircraft
    • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
    • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
    • Y02T—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO TRANSPORTATION
    • Y02T90/00—Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
    • Y02T90/40—Application of hydrogen technology to transportation, e.g. using fuel cells

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Aviation & Aerospace Engineering (AREA)
  • Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
  • Combustion & Propulsion (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Fuel Cell (AREA)

Abstract

An aircraft propulsion unit comprising a fuel cell 4 for providing electrical power. An electric motor 2 drives a propeller and/or a fan 1. A jet propulsion sub-unit provides extra thrust. Preferably, hydrogen tank 5 supplies hydrogen to a fuel injector 11 of the sub-unit and to the fuel cell 4. The electric motor 2 may provide power to the propeller 1 to generate thrust during cruise. A clutch 6 may additionally enable the electric motor 2 to drive a compressor 7 of the sub-unit for combustion of hydrogen in combustion chamber 9 to produce a hydrogen powered jet at exhaust nozzle 10, providing the extra thrust during take-off and/or climb. The propeller’s wash may shroud the high-speed exhaust and thereby minimise noise. Driving the compressor 7 using electric motor 2 may obviate the need for a relatively heavy turbine, and thereby reduce weight.

Description

Aircraft Fuel Cell Propulsion Unit with Hybrid Jet Boost This invention relates to a device to increase the thrust of a hydrogen fuelled electrically powered aircraft.
Environmental concerns regarding the emission of green house gases especially CO2 requires a reduction in fossil fuels. Modern aircraft use fossil fuels such as kerosene in a gas turbine engine. Future aircraft may use Hydrogen as an alternative to the current fossil fuels.
Fuel cells can generate electricity from hydrogen to power an electric motor. The electric motor can then drive a propeller for aircraft propulsion.
A fuel cell electric motor combination provides a maximum realistic efficiency of 70 % compared to 30 % for a gas turbine engine. This is due to the thermodynamic differences between the two systems. An increase in efficiency enables more thrust to be had for a given fuel flow, which improves aircraft performance.
However fuel cells are naturally heavy for a given power output. This degrades the aircraft performance as more engine mass is required for a given thrust.
Take-off and initial climb require maximum thrust to get the aircraft up to speed and into the air. Cruise requires significantly less thrust to remain at altitude. A typical flight profile shows most time is spent at cruise compared to the initial take-off.
This invention therefore proposes that an electric motor and matching fuel cell drives an advanced high speed variable pitch propeller, possibly contained within a nacelle, and that the maximum output of said drive only meets the power required for cruise condition. This minimises the mass of the fuel cell and electric motor improving aircraft performance but makes take-off unachievable without boosting the thrust.
Therefore, it is proposed that said propulsive unit includes a jet also powered by hydrogen, to provide extra thrust at take-off and which then shuts down for the rest of the cruise flight. Here the propeller solely provides the thrust, which means the jet becomes parasitical to the aircraft especially with regards to weight.
To minimise this weight, the invention further proposes that, during take-off, the electric motor that drives the propeller redirects the majority of its power to the jet's compressor. This removes the need for a heavy turbine section as found in a traditional gas turbine engine. This could be achieved by a drive clutch between electric motor and compressor and by changing the pitch of the propeller blades.
To further lower the mass, a simple low pressure compressor made from light weight materials could be used.
The electric motor bias towards the jet's compressor reduces the thrust from the propeller. However, this still means a large increase in overall propulsive thrust due to the energy contained within the jet's high speed exhaust.
This extra thrust does result in higher fuel consumption due to low propulsive efficiency when matching high speed exhaust to take-off speeds. However the short time during take-off compared to the overall flight time means that the fuel used at take-off is small compared to the total fuel used.
High energy exhaust from the jet generates a lot of noise. Therefore a small amount of power should remain to drive the propeller to provide an air shroud around the jet exhaust which helps to abate the noise to the surroundings.
The invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawing: Figure 1 shows a schematic of an aircraft hydrogen fuelled propulsion unit comprising a propeller powered by an electric motor supplied with electrical power from a fuel cell. Figure 1 also shows a boost section comprising a compressor powered by the same electric motor, a combustion chamber and exhaust nozzle.
In figure 1 a gearbox 3 connects the propeller 1 to an electric motor 2. A fuel cell 4 provides electrical power to the motor via conduit 8. A hydrogen tank 5 provides hydrogen to the fuel cell. A clutch 6 connects the electric motor to the compressor 7. A combustion chamber 9 extends from die outlet of the compressor. An exhaust nozzle 10 attaches to the end of the combustion chamber 9. A fuel injector 11 sits within the combustion chamber. The hydrogen tank 5 also supplies the injector 11.
The dutch 6 allows the electric motor 2 to mechanically engage the compressor 7 to provide compressed air for the combustion chamber 9. Combustion of ignited hydrogen fuel inside the combustion chamber through the fuel injector 11 heats the air. The heated air exits the combustion chamber 9 through the exhaust nozzle 10 providing thrust by high speed exhaust.
The above description meets a practical design solution, and is best for communicating the principle of the invention. However other themes could be incorporated such as a fan propulsion, different gearing system, twin rotor electric motors and compressor bleed valves. All these could be included with advance study to improve, match and control the hybrid propulsion unit.

Claims (2)

  1. Claims 1. An aircraft propulsion unit comprising a fuel cell to provide electrical power, an electric motor to drive either a propeller, fan or a combination of the two and a jet propulsion subunit to provide extra thrust.
  2. 2. A propulsion unit according to claim 1 in which a compressor used for jet propulsion is powered by an electric motor.
GB2116561.8A 2021-11-17 2021-11-17 Aircraft fuel cell propulsion unit with hybrid jet boost Pending GB2612973A (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB2116561.8A GB2612973A (en) 2021-11-17 2021-11-17 Aircraft fuel cell propulsion unit with hybrid jet boost

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB2116561.8A GB2612973A (en) 2021-11-17 2021-11-17 Aircraft fuel cell propulsion unit with hybrid jet boost

Publications (2)

Publication Number Publication Date
GB202116561D0 GB202116561D0 (en) 2021-12-29
GB2612973A true GB2612973A (en) 2023-05-24

Family

ID=79163671

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
GB2116561.8A Pending GB2612973A (en) 2021-11-17 2021-11-17 Aircraft fuel cell propulsion unit with hybrid jet boost

Country Status (1)

Country Link
GB (1) GB2612973A (en)

Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2878795A1 (en) * 2013-11-27 2015-06-03 Airbus Operations GmbH Engine for propelling an aircraft and aircraft having at least one engine and at least one hydrogen tank
EP3199791A1 (en) * 2016-01-26 2017-08-02 General Electric Company Turbofan hybrid propulsion system
EP3556658A1 (en) * 2018-04-19 2019-10-23 The Boeing Company Hybrid propulsion engines for aircraft

Patent Citations (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP2878795A1 (en) * 2013-11-27 2015-06-03 Airbus Operations GmbH Engine for propelling an aircraft and aircraft having at least one engine and at least one hydrogen tank
EP3199791A1 (en) * 2016-01-26 2017-08-02 General Electric Company Turbofan hybrid propulsion system
EP3556658A1 (en) * 2018-04-19 2019-10-23 The Boeing Company Hybrid propulsion engines for aircraft

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
GB202116561D0 (en) 2021-12-29

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