How hydrogen fuel cells and new technologies are changing the face of commercial aviation and leading us towards a sustainable future
By: Eli Boikis, operations manager of Dassault Systèmes in Israel
The possibility of flying added a significant dimension to human life. The development of commercial aviation allows us to travel the world in a way that our ancestors could not imagine. But the pleasure, of course, comes with a price tag. The aviation industry contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions. While the entire aviation industry has been working for several decades to improve the environmental performance of air transportation, it still produces 2-3% of the total carbon dioxide emissions that humanity releases into the atmosphere.
Aviation experts predict a 3.5% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next two decades, which represents a doubling of the number of passengers and flights today.
The industry faces increasing social, environmental and economic challenges and is required to reduce pollutant emissions and in fact reinvent the way airplanes fly.
Many countries and companies have implemented ambitious goals for sustainable aviation for the coming years, including a 50% reduction in the volume of emissions by 2050, compared to 2005 levels **** All united around the understanding: it's time to reinvent the way we fly.
Hydrogen aircraft technologies
In order to meet the goals of sustainable aviation, advanced technology is needed to help us break through the glass ceiling of traditional aircraft design, in the propulsion systems and other systems of the aircraft, and this on two levels:
At the first level, relevant solutions for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs): aircraft architecture definition, system integration, aircraft verification, infrastructure planning, logistics and market intelligence.
The second level includes solutions intended for subsystem engineers and hydrogen suppliers: development of fuel cells, hydrogen turbines, storage and distribution systems.
Each component of each of these solutions includes layers of production and certification.
Aircraft architecture: space allocation and zoning
The aircraft design methodology relies on existing aircraft, which are powered by traditional systems. In this way, conventional propulsion systems and systems based on hydrogen fuel cells can be analyzed and the performance of existing and future technologies can be compared. When the design needs are fully clear, the first step in the aircraft design process is the definition of the aircraft architecture, including the initial space allocation and the organization of the subsystems such as the tank and the fuel cells.
Through performance analysis, we identify several aircraft configurations that meet the safety and efficiency requirements, compare them and choose the best option.
Aircraft designers can experiment with thousands of concepts and alternatives using the simulation capabilities on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
Using Dassault Systèmes' Concept 3D Architecture & Simulation you can understand and analyze 3D CONCEPT models, and space allocation for equipment and areas, according to given limitations and various safety requirements - all through a virtual model, which combines all disciplines (structure, electricity, fluid and equipment). The selected configuration can be optimized using multidisciplinary optimization techniques, everything happens in a structured way in the platform.
Speeding up prototype testing of aircraft
Using the virtual twin experience on the Dassault Systèmes platform will help speed up the prototype testing of the aircraft, through advanced 3D designs, based on real-life scenarios, the professionals in the project will be able to test, verify and accurately predict the performance of various features on the aircraft, in a risk-free virtual space - Long before the production process begins. In this way, critical validation can be easily achieved already at the design stage while reducing emissions and costs, reducing waste and ensuring resource savings.
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform is used throughout the process as a single source of truth, thus preventing unnecessary work in the transition from the concept phase to the initial design phase.
storage
The main challenge in the architecture of hydrogen-powered aircraft is the low energy density of hydrogen in relation to volume. A hydrogen powered aircraft requires four to five times the volume of a conventional fuel plane to carry the same energy on board. Supplying hydrogen in gas form also requires a large storage volume. The compression required to fit the existing storage volume increases the costs and requirements around the energy supply of the tool and also makes the weight issue a challenge. Another challenge is reducing the weight of the liquid hydrogen tanks by 50%. One method to do this is to use a lightweight material with a strong interaction with hydrogen without reaction.
At this stage we already fully understand that hydrogen storage is a challenge, the term for materials engineers and it will be critical to understand its interactions with other elements. This is where the 3DEXPERIENCE platform comes into the picture, which does everything from a one-dimensional flow simulation to a three-dimensional simulation that focuses on materials and allows manufacturers to view the tool they are designing and experience it, under different operating conditions. In the case of liquid hydrogen tanks, the platform's unique solutions allow them to estimate the pressure and temperature in a layered profile inside the tank already at the design stage and ensure that liquid hydrogen will never evaporate.
Hydrogen fuel cells
A hydrogen fuel cell uses the chemical energy of hydrogen to generate electricity. Adding an energy reserve (such as a battery) to this system helps ensure continuous load monitoring and "flattening" the peak demand curves. In this way, the system size of the fuel cells can be chosen optimally.
The most advanced and suitable option available to aviation today includes low temperature proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells.
To design fuel cell systems for passenger aircraft, the system requirements of the aircraft must be defined.
In the design of the airplane's fuel cell, there are several critical functions that must be taken into account: heat management, fuel cell durability, energy density and a high, reliable and high-quality power supply to the system. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform supports the sourcing and examination of these functions at the individual component, subsystem or system level.
In this way, manufacturers can simulate polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells and fuel cell stacks for the pre-design stages, control strategy evaluation and Loss Analysis - and predict the performance of an entire fuel cell in virtual systems of various sizes.
Hydrogen engines
The requirements for the hydrogen engines are clear. The engines should be more efficient and emit only non-CO2 emissions such as nitrogen oxides (NOx).
To ensure that these engines will be in use within a decade, engine manufacturers will have to speed up all stages of development. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform helps manufacturers define the design with precision and detail. Furthermore, one can easily focus on the subsystems of the hydrogen engine - fuel injectors, for example - to experience and predict their function through integrative modeling and simulation. For example, a fluid mixing simulation combining hydrogen and air can be performed to identify areas of inefficient mixing that can produce nitrogen oxides.
Approvals
In order to receive the required approvals and for the product to "fly", the manufacturers are required to meet the safety requirements of the authorities. The existing approvals, for traditional rotary aircraft or fixed-wing aircraft, do not cover the unique configurations of a hydrogen engine, therefore it is important that the relevant companies accelerate the development and implementation of new technologies.
After all, time plays a crucial role here: the process of certifying aircraft and bringing them into commercial use can take over ten years. A massive replacement of the aircraft fleet will require another decade.
Manufacturers, who want to ensure the level of performance expected from the tool, will use virtual simulation to reuse existing designs and save costs. This way you can test different solutions before starting tests on a physical prototype, in the real world.
Traditional safety and reliability tests involve several rounds of trial and error, on a limited amount of configurations. The results obtained, because of this limitation, are not optimal. When using simulation, reusing an existing design is simple and the rules of physics will be applied to the new design automatically.
In order to comply with the regulation, we will have to prove the fulfillment of all the requirements concerning the performance and in addition, we will have to be able to justify the way the conclusion was constructed. For this reason, requirements and design solutions must be traceable from the first moment the aircraft engineering work begins.
A single source of truth helps companies benefit from digital data continuously and allows approving authorities to clearly see the intentions behind the product design. In this way, you can easily plan, execute and follow the company's type certification strategy, when all those involved can easily produce and approve their products in the project.
It should be noted that project by-products that are not delivered on time and are not accessible will cause delays in the approval process.
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform helps OEMs build a challenge database for regulations and easily scan the websites of air licensing authorities. It allows them to create a scientific and transparent challenge database for managing regulatory compliance, virtual models, methods, mathematical formulas and previous recorded results. The platform also helps OEMs in decision-making, allowing them to provide concise information in the configuration of the information window, and to communicate tasks effectively through project approval statuses, campaign tracking checks, submissions and issuance of various documents.
Supply chain and infrastructure challenges
The transition to right fuel will also pose a challenge to the airports, which will have to redesign their infrastructure and logistics systems. First, hydrogen is highly explosive which requires monitoring the temperature around the plane and moving the storage tanks outside the airport to reduce the risk of a chain of explosions.
In other words, the storage space needed to manage an airport has increased, not to mention the logistical and safety complexity of keeping hydrogen in its liquid form, which requires an environment with a temperature of minus 253°C.
Summary
To achieve sustainable aviation, we must move forward smoothly. Integration of data in time and rich and integrative models throughout processes, end to end, are critical capabilities for such progress.
With teams working on one collaborative platform, next-generation propulsion systems, including highly efficient fuel cells, long-life batteries and safe hydrogen storage, can be optimized to test, validate and validate the durability of aircraft materials and designs – and lift aircraft performance to new heights, into the future sustainable in aviation.
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lUnfunded
Fun nonsense. Hydrogen will not be dangerous, only an electric motor with batteries is the future.
This is a PR article with no news value. Is it funded? If so, due diligence is required. If not, more careful editing is required