Solid Oxide Fuel Cells for High Altitude Long Endurance Systems

June 4th, 2008 · No Comments

The Boeing-led team is developing flight-worthy scale and full-size versions of the long-endurance aircraft capable of carrying a 1,000-pound payload while remaining in air for up to five years. The project codenamed Vulture has been awarded to Boeing by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Versa Power Systems, Inc., a developer of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC), has been selected to work with Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems to develop power generating unit for an ultra-long endurance unmanned aircraft. Solid oxide fuel cells are particularly “power dense,” generating considerably large amounts of electricity from a relatively low-weight package. They produce energy continuously as long as the basic building blocks of fuel and air are supplied. Fuel cells consist of few moving parts, increasing their reliability over many other choices that might be considered for generating energy in a long-endurance aircraft.