IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v340y2025ics0360544225050133.html

Improved model for hydrogen fuel cell system design and its integration in sizing for hybrid-electric-propulsion aircraft

Author

Listed:
  • Li, Li
  • Qiao, Lei
  • Xu, Jiakuan
  • Bai, Junqiang

Abstract

In the present era, there exists a rising global market demand for electric propulsion aircrafts, spurred by the imperative to attain carbon peak and carbon neutrality objectives. Hydrogen fuel cell electric-propulsion aircrafts, notable for the high energy density of hydrogen and nearly zero carbon dioxide emissions, attract much attention. One crucial research orientation for these aircrafts is to develop the models of (liquid) hydrogen fuel cell system, and consider the coupling effect between the hydrogen power system design and the whole aircraft sizing. However, the current models lack detailed design modeling, analysis of the operational logic of the power generation system, as well as the correlation and impact analysis with the overall preliminary design of the whole aircraft. To address these issues, an improved model is proposed, capable of incorporating these missing factors for a more reasonable and detailed hydrogen fuel cell system design at an aircraft-level. Subsequently, the model is incorporated into the sizing procedure of electric propulsion aircrafts to facilitate the sizing of hydrogen-powered hybrid-electric-propulsion (HEP) aircrafts. The validation results and related discussions highlight that this paper refines the structural characteristics and thermodynamic properties of the cryogenic liquid hydrogen tank in a liquid hydrogen hybrid-electric aircraft. It analyzes the fundamental working logic and the dynamic operating process of the hydrogen fuel cell system, aiming to improve the rationality and accuracy of modeling for the liquid hydrogen tank. Moreover, it explains the coupling effect between the hydrogen power system design and the whole aircraft sizing, and then it compares and analyzes the performance, design characteristics and key indicators of hydrogen-powered HEP aircraft designs based on the pre-improvement model and improved model, providing a more precise focus on the mass characteristics assessment and conceptual sizing design of hydrogen-electric aircraft. Furthermore, this work can provide guidance for the design and application of other alternative energy sources.

Suggested Citation

  • Li, Li & Qiao, Lei & Xu, Jiakuan & Bai, Junqiang, 2025. "Improved model for hydrogen fuel cell system design and its integration in sizing for hybrid-electric-propulsion aircraft," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 340(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:340:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225050133
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.139371
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225050133
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.139371?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhang, Jinning & Roumeliotis, Ioannis & Zolotas, Argyrios, 2022. "Model-based fully coupled propulsion-aerodynamics optimization for hybrid electric aircraft energy management strategy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    2. Li, Wei & Cheng, Rongguo & Huang, Haihong & Garg, Akhil & Gao, Liang, 2025. "Energy consumption modeling and optimization of an eVTOL aircraft: Integrating weight, motor, and battery dynamics," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    3. Christopher Winnefeld & Thomas Kadyk & Boris Bensmann & Ulrike Krewer & Richard Hanke-Rauschenbach, 2018. "Modelling and Designing Cryogenic Hydrogen Tanks for Future Aircraft Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-23, January.
    4. Zou, Runyuan & Wang, Bing & Wang, Kun & Shang, Wen-Long & Xue, Dabin & Ochieng, Washington Yotto, 2025. "A pathway to sustainable aviation: Modeling aircraft takeoff mass for precise fuel consumption and aircraft emission calculations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 319(C).
    5. Wang, Mingkai & Xiaoyang, Guotai & He, Ruichen & Zhang, Shuguang & Ma, Jintao, 2023. "Bi-layer sizing and design optimization method of propulsion system for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    6. Zhang, Songyang & Dinavahi, Venkata & Liang, Tian, 2025. "Towards hydrogen-powered electric aircraft: Physics-informed machine learning based multi-domain modeling and real-time digital twin emulation on FPGA," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 322(C).
    7. Thomas Kadyk & Christopher Winnefeld & Richard Hanke-Rauschenbach & Ulrike Krewer, 2018. "Analysis and Design of Fuel Cell Systems for Aviation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-15, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Katalenich, Scott M. & Jacobson, Mark Z., 2022. "Toward battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell military vehicles for land, air, and sea," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(PB).
    2. Maršenka Marksel & Anita Prapotnik Brdnik, 2022. "Maximum Take-Off Mass Estimation of a 19-Seat Fuel Cell Aircraft Consuming Liquid Hydrogen," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-15, July.
    3. Maršenka Marksel & Anita Prapotnik Brdnik, 2023. "Comparative Analysis of Direct Operating Costs: Conventional vs. Hydrogen Fuel Cell 19-Seat Aircraft," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-20, July.
    4. Pavlos Rompokos & Sajal Kissoon & Ioannis Roumeliotis & Devaiah Nalianda & Theoklis Nikolaidis & Andrew Rolt, 2020. "Liquefied Natural Gas for Civil Aviation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.
    5. Wang, Xin & Atkin, Jason & Bozhko, Serhiy, 2025. "Fault-tolerant hierarchical energy management system for an electrical power system on more-electric aircraft," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 379(C).
    6. Park, Junhwi & Jeong, Taemin & Yee, Kwanjung, 2025. "Refined air-cooled battery sizing process for conceptual design of eVTOL aircraft," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 377(PB).
    7. Collins, Jeffrey M. & McLarty, Dustin, 2020. "All-electric commercial aviation with solid oxide fuel cell-gas turbine-battery hybrids," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    8. Wang, Mingkai & Xiaoyang, Guotai & He, Ruichen & Zhang, Shuguang & Ma, Jintao, 2023. "Bi-layer sizing and design optimization method of propulsion system for electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    9. Tobias Mueller & Steven Gronau, 2023. "Fostering Macroeconomic Research on Hydrogen-Powered Aviation: A Systematic Literature Review on General Equilibrium Models," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-33, February.
    10. Wang, Bin & Wang, Chaohui & Wang, Zhiyu & Ni, Siliang & Yang, Yixin & Tian, Pengyu, 2023. "Adaptive state of energy evaluation for supercapacitor in emergency power system of more-electric aircraft," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PA).
    11. Aygun, Hakan, 2024. "Effects of air to fuel ratio on parameters of combustor used for gas turbine engines: Applications of turbojet, turbofan, turboprop and turboshaft," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    12. Andriy Chaban & Zbigniew Lukasik & Marek Lis & Andrzej Szafraniec, 2020. "Mathematical Modeling of Transient Processes in Magnetic Suspension of Maglev Trains," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-17, December.
    13. Petronilla Fragiacomo & Francesco Piraino & Matteo Genovese & Lorenzo Flaccomio Nardi Dei & Daria Donati & Michele Vincenzo Migliarese Caputi & Domenico Borello, 2022. "Sizing and Performance Analysis of Hydrogen- and Battery-Based Powertrains, Integrated into a Passenger Train for a Regional Track, Located in Calabria (Italy)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-20, August.
    14. Yuanliang Liu & Yinan Qiu & Zhan Liu & Gang Lei, 2022. "Modeling and Analysis of the Flow Characteristics of Liquid Hydrogen in a Pipe Suffering from External Transient Impact," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-12, June.
    15. Leng, Jun-xue & Shen, Yang & Huang, Wei & An, Kai & Zhou, Can-can & Wang, Zhen-guo, 2024. "Multi-fidelity data mining-based design optimization framework for scramjet-based aircraft," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    16. Liu, Peng & Zheng, Hongbin & Qiu, Tian & Liu, Chuankai & Luo, Xiang & Ding, Shuiting, 2025. "A novel hydrogen-fueled turbine engine architecture combined with power generation fuel thermal management system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 338(C).
    17. Hu, Chaobin & Shao, Wenlong & Chen, Xiaomiao & Kong, Xiangguo, 2025. "A comprehensive design method to balance efficiency and noise for high-thrust electric UAV propellers," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 327(C).
    18. Liu, Peng & Yang, Tianyan & Zheng, Hongbin & Huang, Xiang & Wang, Xuan & Qiu, Tian & Ding, Shuiting, 2024. "Thermodynamic analysis of power generation thermal management system for heat and cold exergy utilization from liquid hydrogen-fueled turbojet engine," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 365(C).
    19. Nida Khan & Kumarasamy Sudhakar & Rizalman Mamat, 2021. "Role of Biofuels in Energy Transition, Green Economy and Carbon Neutrality," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-30, November.
    20. Luo, Qiaodan & Zhao, Shengfeng & Zhou, Shiji & Yao, Lipan & Yang, Chengwu & Lu, Xingen & Zhu, Junqiang, 2024. "Influence of diversified dihedral stator on the thermodynamic performance and flow loss characteristics of a variable core driven fan stage," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:340:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225050133. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.