ETSi researchers develop technologies for the use of hydrogen in the next generation of aircraft

Capgemini visits the test bench of the Iron-NPE project, installed in the ETSi Thermal Engine Laboratory

 A group of researchers from the Higher Technical School of Engineering of the University of Seville develops new technologies and demonstrators of on-board systems for the use of hydrogen in aircraft, within the framework of the Iron NPE Project: Research of new technologies and demonstrators of on-board systems for the use of hydrogen in aircraft.

Iron NPE project aims to design and develop the architectures of new sustainable hydrogen systems that are capable of supplying auxiliary power to an aircraft. It also seeks to develop a complete ground test cell that allows carrying out the entire battery of tests necessary to qualify and test the new systems.

The AICIA Engine Team, led by David Sánchez , participates in the project by developing new concepts of non-propulsive power production systems, based on both a fuel cell and a gas microturbine, which a novel cryogenic recovery system of thermal energy. This concept will also be tested (proof-of-concept) in an experimental facility created specifically for this project in the ETSI laboratories. The Iron NPE project coordination team at Capgemini visited the experimental facility last October, expressing the great interest that this development has for Airbus, the company that leads the consortium.

Iron NPE is a research and development project covered by the Aeronautical Technology Program in the "Large Strategic Projects" modality of the year 2022, framed in the European Union Next Generation Program / Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. This project has a planned duration of 35 months, starting in August 2022 and has a total approved budget of €24,577,919 and total aid granted of €15,879,521.50.