Concept analysis of an electrical fuel cell integration in modern aircraft

The reduction of pollutant emissions and hence the increasing of the eco efficiency of future aircraft is one of the major challenges for the aviation industry. Executing the More Electric Aircraft concept can be one approach to achieve these high targets. One idea in this context is to substitute the traditional Auxiliary Power Unit by a Multifunctional Fuel Cell System. It is necessary to transform the load-dependent fuel cell stack output voltage to the intended electrical onboard grid voltage level. To increase the efficiency and reduce the system weight an optimized electrical integration is presented. Measurement results on a test bench confirm the theoretical concepts.