• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.1-8
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• 2010

In this paper, we present some results of technical surveys, power analyses, and weight estimation on electric propulsion systems for 1-ton class Personal Air Vehicles(PAV) applications. When hybrid electric propulsion is adopted, its power performance using fuel cells and batteries in inferior to that of internal combustion engines. However, hybrid electric propulsion systems may replace IC engines when energy density and power density reach 0.75 kW$^*$hr/kg and 2.5 kW/kg, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.85-92
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• 2019

Numerical visualization is conducted to confirm the variation of flow characteristics and pressure drop by the shape of channels on the cathode flow path in hydrogen fuel cells for unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs). Generally, a light-weight fan is commonly used rather than a heavy air compressor at UAVS. However, in case of blower fan, a large pressure drop in the flow path causes the blocking of the oxygen supply to the fuel cell. Therefore, the uniformity of flow inside the cathode has to be achieved by changing the shape of the cathode. The flow channel, the duct shape, and the diameter of the fan are changed to optimize the flow path. As a result, it is confirmed that the optimal flow path can decrease the velocity difference between the center and outer flow by 1.8%. However, It should be noted that the channel size can increase the pressure drop.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.17-22
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• 2014

The design of a fuel cells stack is important to get optimal output power. This study focuses on the evaluation of fuel cell system for unmaned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Low temperature proton exchange membrane (LTPEM) fuel cells are the most promising energy source for the robot applications because of their unique advantages such as high energy density, cold startup, and quick response during operation. In this paper, a 600 W open cathode LTPEM fuel cell was tested to evaluate the performance and to determine optimal operating conditions. The open cathode design reduces the overall size of the system to meet the requirement for robotic application. The cruise power requirement of 600 W was supported entirely by the fuel cell while the additional power requirements during takeoff was extended using a battery. A peak of power of 900 W is possible for 10 mins with a lithium polymer (LiPo) battery. The system was evaluated under various load cycles as well as start-stop cycles. The system response from no load to full load meets the robot platform requirement. The total weigh of the stack was 2 kg, while the overall system, including the fuel processing system and battery, was 4 kg.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.42 no.2 s.273
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• pp.117-122
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• 2005

Electron Beam Physical Vapor Deposition (EB-PVD) is a typical technology for thermal barrier coating with Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) on aero gas turbine engine. In this study EB-PVD method was used to fabricate dense YSZ film on NiO-YSZ as a electrolyte of Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC). Dense YSZ films of -10 $\mu$m thickness showed nano surface structure depending on deposition temperature. Electrical conductivities of YSZ film and electric power density of the single cell were evaluated after screen- printing $LaSrCoO_3$ as a cathode.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.819-826
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• 2011

The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is regarded as the most promising alternative power sources for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) due to its high energy density and silent operation. Since there are many load changes during UAV flight, thermal management is one of the important factor for the performance of PEMFC. In order to reduce the UAV weight for the stable operation of UAV, thermal management system (TMS) studied in this work does not use the fan but use the air flowing into UAV by UAV flight. In order to develop the passive type heat exchanger (HEX) for 1kW PEMFC, four types of HEXs are fabricated and their cooling performances are compared. The parametric study on the cooling performance of HEXs has performed with the variation of operating parameters such as mass flow rates and inlet temperature of air and coolant. Type 4 has the best performance in every case. This study can be helpful to achieve the optimal design of HEX for PEMFC powered UAV.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.226-232
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• 2013

A compact hydrogen generation device of fuel cell system using chemical hydride storage technique was designed to fit the propulsion device requirement of a small unmanned aerial vehicle(SUAV). For high efficient, compact, and lightweight hydrogen generation control device, the Co-B catalyst hydrogen conversion rate by $NaBH_4$ aqueous solution flux is measured so that the proper amount of Co-B catalyst for maximum hydrogen generation of 100W stack was proposed. A compact hydrogen generation device is controlled by pump's on/off using its own internal pressure and consumes fuel in high efficiency through a dead-end type fuel cell. The fuel cell system has stable operation for a planed flight profile. The system operates up to maximum 7 hours and at least 4 hours for tough flight profiles.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.300-309
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• 2012

Long endurance is a key issue in the application of unmanned aerial vehicles. This study presents feasibility test results when fuel cell system as an alternative to the conventional engine is applied for the power of the UAV after the 150W fuel cell system is developed and packaged to the 1/4 scale super cub airplane. Fuel cell system is operated by dead-end method in the anode part and periodically purged to remove the water droplet in flow field during the operation. Oxygen in the air is supplied to the stack by the two air blowers. And fuel cell stack is water cooled by cooling circuit to dissipate the heat generated during the fuel cell operation. Weight balance is considered to integrate the stack and balance of plant (BOP) in package layout. In flight performance test, we demonstrated 4 times standalone take-off and landing. In the laboratory test simulating the flight condition to quantify the energy flow, the system is analyzed in detail. Sankey diagram shows that electric efficiency of the fuel cell system is 39.2%, heat loss 50.1%, parasitic loss 8.96%, and unreacted purged gas 1.67%, respectively compared to the total hydrogen input energy. Feasibility test results show that fuel cell system is high efficient and appropriate for the power of UAV.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.56-63
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• 2009

In this paper, we present technical survey results on propulsion systems for Personal Air Vehicles (PAV). Reciprocating engines are suitable for current PAVs because of their superior efficiency and price advantages, except they produce noise problems. Turbo-Shaft engines are suitable for VTOL PAVs because of high specific power and wide operating range even though they are expensive. However, fuel cells and batteries may replace conventional engines in the near future.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.492-501
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• 2017

A 900 W scale direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) stack is designed and fabricated for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) applications. To meet the volume and weight requirements, metallic bipolar plates are applied to the DMFC stack for the first time wherein POS470FC was chosen as bipolar plate material. To ensure good robustness of the metallic bipolar plate based DMFC stack, finite element method based simulations are conducted using a commercial ANSYS Fluent software. The stress buildup and deformation characteristics on bipolar plates and end plates are analyzed in details. The present DMFC stack exhibits the performance of 1,130 W at 32 V and 35.3 A, clearly demonstrating that it could successfully operate for UAVs requiring around 1,000 W of power.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2016

This study presents an experiment investigation on natural convection heat transfer of air-cooling Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) in a enclosure system for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Considered are replacing fuel cell stack with Aluminum block for heat generating inside a enclosure chamber. The volume ratio of fuel cell stack and chamber for simulation to the actual size of aerial vehicle is 1 to 15. The parameters considered for experimental study are the environmental temperature range from $25^{\circ}C$ to $-60^{\circ}C$ and the block heat input of 10 W, 20 W and 30 W. Effect of the thermal conductivity of the block and power level on heat transfer in the chamber are investigated. Experimental results illustrate the temperature rise at various locations inside the chamber as dependent upon heat input of fuel cell stack and environmental temperature. From the results, dimensionless correlation in natural convection was proposed with Nusselt number and Rayleigh number for designing air-cooling PEMFC powered high altitude long endurance (HALE) UAV.