关键词: 燃料电池, 低碳航空, 混电飞机, 氢能动力, 性能匹配, 长航时

Abstract:

To reduce the specific fuel consumption of the engine， reduce carbon emission， and improve aircraft endurance， this paper proposes a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell （SOFC） gas turbine aviation hybrid propulsion system with hydrocarbon fuel. Hydrocarbon fuel is used through pre-reforming and the SOFC， eliminating the need to carry hydrogen with low volume energy density on the aircraft. Moreover， the power density of the hybrid engine is improved， and its mass and volume are decreased by integrating SOFC with gas turbines. Mass and thermodynamic models are constructed to analyze the performance of the hybrid engine equipped with the MQ-1. As the fuel utilization is decreased， the polarization loss of the SOFC is decreased， and the average temperature difference of the heat exchanger is increased， resulting in a decrease in the mass of the hybrid engine and an increase in the specific fuel consumption. The optimization direction of the system mass is opposed to that of the overall efficiency. As the pressure ratio grows， the power and mass of the SOFC are increased， leading to a decrease in fuel mass. However， the efficiency of the fuel cell and the hybrid system is slightly affected when the current density of the fuel cell remains constant. Under the designed conditions， the mass of the SOFC and heat exchangers accounts for more than 70% of the hybrid engine’s total mass. The mass of the hybrid engine is increased by 40%， and the thermal efficiency of the hybrid engine is improved by 111% compared to that of the internal combustion engine. Furthermore， the hybrid engine can meet the power requirements of the aircraft during both climbing and cruising stages. The endurance of an aircraft equipped with a hybrid engine can improve by 97%.

Key words: fuel cell, low-carbon aviation, hybrid electric aircraft, hydrogen propulsion, performance matching, long endurance