Demo Will Fly a DJI M600 Drone for Two Hours Using Fuel Cells

Intelligent Energy has announced that it plans to showcase its lightweight Fuel Cell Power Modules for UAVs at a number of private flight demonstrations to commercial fleet operators.  Using a DJI M600 the company will showcase up to two-hour flight times using fuel cells. The invite-only flight demonstrations will be held in the Bay area, California; Tokyo, Japan; South Korea and selected locations across Europe over the coming few months.

The demonstrations will give potential customers the opportunity to see the fuel cell technology in operation and to speak to the Intelligent Energy team. Customers will be guided as to the right configuration required for their UAV fleet as well as providing information on refuelling and cylinder options.

The demonstrations will present Intelligent Energy’s range of fuel cell power modules (FCPMs). An example configuration will be flown using two 800W FCPMs which will be linked in series using a Power Path Module (PPM) providing 1.6 kW of continuous power to the UAV. This configuration enables powering of advanced multi rotor aircraft of c.15 kg maximum take-off weight with payloads of up to 4kg and flight times up to 120 minutes. Replacing the battery system on your DJI M600 will provide up to 2.5kg payload capacity with a much longer flight time of up to 120 minutes.

In addition, the Intelligent Energy 2.4 kW FCPM is designed for UAVs up to 25 kg maximum-take-off-weight and allows for payloads of up to around 7 kg, achieving a 120 minute-plus flight time.

Intelligent Energy says the first flight and meet the team event will be held in Sunnyvale, California next month. The expect to show a game-changing solution to power UAVs for three to four times longer than the equivalent battery power. They will be flying the DJI M600 in this instance because it is widely used in the commercial UAV market, but its power products are also suitable for a number of fixed wing or VTOL UAVs where the gains in flight time are significantly longer again, says the company.

Examples of integration: 

Intelligent Energy | www.intelligent-energy.com