HyPoint

The year is 1883.

The world witnessed the prototype of the first electrically propelled aircraft (a battery-powered airship).

Gaston Tissandier, the French chemist and aviator – known for his daring meteorological expeditions aboard airships was the man behind the innovation. He had attached a Siemens electric motor to a blimp to power its propeller, achieving the first flight.
1903, two decades later, the Wright Brothers’ Kitty Hawk first flew.

The rise of the internal combustion engine and the subsequent invention of the gas turbine caused the aviation space to rely on these sources of rotative power, fuelled by oil-derivative compounds.

A century later, electrification of all human activities has manifested itself in two ways in the aerospace industry: the More Electric Aircraft (MEA) and Electrical Propulsion.

While the latter has been a case of incremental employment of electrical equipment in place of systems that would previously have been mechanical, hydraulic, or pneumatic, Electrical Propulsion is the buzz de jour. Electrical Propulsion is a revolutionary new approach with three main architectures--Hybrid-electric, Turbo Electric, and All-Electric. It has gained much recent publicity and has the potential to transform large segments of the aerospace industry, affecting not only propulsion, but also aircraft systems, and leading to radically new aircraft architectures.

Entering 2020, we are at the cusp of a revolution in the aerospace and aviation industries.

We have come a full circle.

It is clear that investors and engineers are aligned in the potential of Electrical Propulsion, and teams around the world are already making strides towards further electrification.

Enter HyPoint -- a firm that is one of the drivers of the revolution with its next generation hydrogen fuel cell system with zero CO2 emission and game-changing energy performance for the air transportation and urban air mobility market.

Hydrogen fuel cell powertrains provide significant weight and time-saving advantages over battery ones. While there have been significant gains in the development of Fuel Cell Enabling Technologies (FCET), the existing challenges—related to battery lifespan and refueling infrastructure—obstructs the technology to expand and meet aviation and aerospace industry needs.

The prominent players in the market, such as Toyota, have moved aside from utilizing traditional Li-Ion batteries, getting re-acquainted with hydrogen fuel cells. In such a competitive space, HyPoint power system lightweight, recirculated pressurized air-cooled fuel cell provides better capabilities with a game-changing ability to satisfy all requirements of the market in comparison to liquid-cooled fuel cells and Lithium-ion batteries of course.

HyPoint system fuel cell increases the lifespan of the powertrains from 5000 hours to 20,000 hours. “The hydrogen fuel cell batteries can make the powertrain run for hours, and it only takes a few minutes to refuel or swap out a tank once it’s empty. Additionally, HyPoint’s offering is capable of operating even at extreme temperatures from 60° C to -50° C,” adds Alexey Ivanenko, the Founder and CEO of HyPoint.

The HyPoint power system fuel cell utilizes state-of-the-art design solutions and materials, ensuring the maximum possible energy density and specific power. A next-generation power supply system based on hydrogen-air fuel cells, HyPoint is an ideal alternative to what other companies are offering. The new company’s LT-PEM and HT-PEMfuel cell power system has high quality lightweight and powerful stack of 4000W/kg specific power. The specific power of the whole powertrain reaches 2000W/kg of specific power and the energy density of up to 1000Wh/kg. These figures was obtained due to new design of powertrain based on air-cooled fuel cells.

The HyPoint hydrogen fuel cell for powertrain bears significant benefits for regions and cities owing to zero carbon emissions, reduced noise level, and suitability to sensitive environments. Besides, the advantages of using the HyPoint power system include higher specific power and higher practical output power capacity due to pressurizing gases supplied to air-cooled fuel cell stack and simpler design due to removing ‘parasitic mass’ of different subsystems like pumps, humidifiers, loop of liquid-cooling. Another real positive from the HyPoint power system hydrogen fuel cell is that they have attributes such as simplified refueling patterns and infrastructure build-up. Moreover, the elaborate method of fuel cell production without fabricated membrane allows improvement of fuel cell performance, reducing the cost significantly. The HyPoint fuel cell power system for the commercial UAV market (MTOW is of up to 50kg) already had a demonstrated capability of producing 30 percent better in specific power when compared to other ‘air-cooled’ competitors. Now, the latest developments of the HyPoint fuel cell power system for the air transportation and urban air mobility market will produce a remarkable improvement over the existing quality by implementing HT-PEM fuel cell with the unique technology of corrosion-resistant lightweight bipolar plates that decreases the weight of fuel cells. On top of that, the fuel cells are placed in a special shell were compressed air circulation is organized.

Hydrogen fuel cells will play a significant role in the transportation industry in the near future. As the usage of powertrains continues to grow and develop, HyPoint seeks to harness the true potential in utilizing hydrogen-powered fuel cells, offering reliability, endurance, and performance to their customers. “As mobility, compactness, energy density of the fuel cell drive the market, we plan to diminish the hazardous effects of pollutants from conventional fuel vehicles, moving towards environmentally friendly energy sources,” concludes Ivanenko.