A Study on Thermal Management Systems for Fuel-Cell Powered Regional Aircraft

Manuel Filipe, Frederico Afonso () and Afzal Suleman ()
Additional contact information
Manuel Filipe: Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Frederico Afonso: Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
Afzal Suleman: Instituto de Engenharia Mecânica, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 12, 1-21

Abstract: This work studies the feasibility of integrating a hydrogen-powered propulsion system in a regional aircraft at the conceptual design level. The developed system consists of fuel cells, which will be studied at three technological levels, and batteries, also studied for four hybridization factors (X = 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.20). Hydrogen can absorb great thermal loads since it is stored in the tank at cryogenic temperatures and is used as fuel in the fuel cells at around 80 °C. Taking advantage of this characteristic, two thermal management system (TMS) architectures were developed to ensure the proper functioning of the aircraft during the designated mission: A1, which includes a vapor compression system (VCS), and A2, which omits it for a simpler design. The models were developed in MATLAB ® and consist of different components and technologies commonly used in such systems. The analysis reveals that A2, due to the exclusion of the VCS, outperformed A1 in weight (10–23% reduction), energy consumption, and drag. A1’s TMS required significantly more energy due to the VCS compressor. Hybridization with batteries increased system weight substantially (up to 37% in A2) and had a greater impact on energy consumption in A2 due to additional fan work. Hydrogen’s heat sink capacity remained underutilized, and the hydrogen tank was deemed suitable for a non-integral fuselage design. A2 had the lowest emissions (10–20% lower than A1 for X = 0), but hybridization negated these benefits, significantly increasing emissions in pessimistic scenarios.

Keywords: hybridization; hydrogen; fuel cells; thermal management systems; propulsion system; regional aircraft; energy consumption; vapor compression system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/12/3074/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/12/3074/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:12:p:3074-:d:1676221

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().