Korea develops hydrogen engine core technology to lead hydrogen mobility

President Sang-Jin Park of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (hereinafter referred to as Mei-Yeon) has created a hydrogen engine core technology that promotes the future hydrogen-based transportation society.

Choi Young, the head of the Green Power Research Center at the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials’ Environmental System Research Division, claimed that his team has created a compact 5kW hydrogen engine for drones.

This is the first time in Korea that a tiny hydrogen engine capable of powering unmanned vehicles has been built. Currently, the majority of power sources for unmanned mobile vehicles like drones are batteries, however long-term flying is being attempted using gasoline engine hybrid systems and hydrogen fuel cell systems.

The researchers combined the hydrogen fuel delivery system with direct injection in a tiny engine and optimized engine characteristics such as ignition and injection.

This time, the tiny hydrogen engine built produced more than 7kW, while the generator and rectifier produced for the construction of the power pack module produced more than 5kW. This is enough power to fly the most powerful industrial drones on the market, which weigh between 20 and 30 kilograms.

Because hydrogen fuel has a 2.8 times higher energy density per weight than gasoline, it can provide drones with gasoline engines a longer flying duration. It’s also worth noting that it’s an environmentally beneficial, carbon-free technology.

Additional research on the creation of a power pack module that combines an engine and a generator is likely to be employed in the future to enhance the flight duration of industrial drones and broaden the mission range, in addition to research to ensure the dependability of a tiny hydrogen engine. It’s also predicted to be widely employed as a source of power for autonomous moving things like delivery robots.

“Based on the creation of a tiny hydrogen engine, it is significant that we have proactively secured technology that can respond to the approaching carbon-neutral society,” director Choi Young stated. “I’m hoping we can,” he expressed his optimism.