California, USA-based startup Hydroplane has won funding from the US Army to further develop its hydrogen fuel cell powerplant for Army aerial vehicle electric propulsion.
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant will fund work to outline the capabilities and performance of the hydrogen propulsion system for the Army and conduct a prototype demonstration.
Dr. Anita Sengupta, CEO of Hydroplane said, “During this activity we will define performance and operational capabilities for Army use cases of our hydrogen fuel cell powerplant technology.
“We offer the Army the agility and innovation mindset only a small business can deliver, allowing us to bring future forward technology rapidly through research to production.”
Hydroplane has already received two SBIR contracts from the US Navy and two US Air Force (USAF) Agility Prime contracts to develop hydrogen fuel cell system for aircraft and ground power units. The company has also received a California Energy Commission CalTestBed voucher to testing and commercialize hydrogen propulsion system for aircraft, as well as raised private funds.
Concurrently, development is well underway on Hydroplane’s 200-kW (270 hp) modular hydrogen fuel cell powerplant for the general aviation and advanced air mobility markets.
Hydroplane wants its hydrogen-electric propulsion system to replace combustion-piston driven engines in currently certified, experimental, and future aircraft and in auxiliary power systems.
