Airbus is conducting studies to determine how scalable a hydrogen fuel cell “pod” configuration, among others, could be to large commercial aircraft. The aviation industry has developed numerous configurations—twinjet, s-duct, winglets, contra-rotating propellers—over the last five decades that have enabled aircraft to fly higher, faster and longer. Now, Airbus engineers are unveiling a new configuration as part of the ZEROe program ( earlier post ) that could enable a passenger aircraft to fly farther than ever without emissions. The innovative approach consists of six, eight-bladed hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered “pods” mounted beneath the aircraft wing. The ‘pod’ configuration is essentially a distributed fuel cell propulsion system that delivers thrust to the aircraft via six propulsors arranged along the wing. Hydrogen fuel cells have very different design considerations, so we knew we had to come up with a unique approach. —Matthieu Thomas, ZEROe Aircraft Lead Architect Hydrogen fuel cell technology has yet to […]