Within the framework of the Federal Target Program "Research and Development in priority areas of development of the scientific and technological complex of Russia for 2014-2020", scientists of YURGPU (NPI) together with an industrial partner - PTERO LLC – are working on a project on the topic "Mobile power plants on hydrogen fuel cells of the kilowatt power class: development of new materials, technologies, technological equipment". The first stage of joint work is completed, it's time to sum up the interim results.

The development of the market of fuel cell power plants in Russia is currently hindered by their high cost, which is due, among other things, to the lack of manufacturing technologies for components and modern technological equipment. The widespread introduction of hydrogen fuel cell power plants will significantly reduce the negative anthropogenic impact on the environment and improve the quality of life.

The development of scientists of the YURSPU (NPI) is aimed at overcoming technological barriers to the creation of new products for promising markets, including Energynet, Autonet, Marinet, Aeronet within the framework of the end-to-end technology "New and Portable Energy Sources". Among the most promising energy sources are elements that use hydrogen as fuel. The implementation of the project will ensure the production of products capable of competing not only in the Russian, but also in the global market of fuel cell power plants.

Technological equipment for the production of solid polymer fuel cells will make it possible to organize in the Russian Federation the production of kilowatt-class power plants designed for power supply of various unmanned aircraft systems, as well as in the future - for mobile service robots. The global market of unmanned aircraft systems by 2035, according to experts, will amount to more than $200 billion, while Russia's share in this emerging market may amount to more than $35-40 billion. More than $10 billion is the projected volume of the global market for professional service robotics, for example, for warehouse logistics automation. For these devices, the use of hydrogen-fueled power plants is a necessary condition both from an economic point of view (the duration of flights/autonomous operation is several times higher than possible indicators for systems on other storage devices/energy sources) and from an environmental point of view (no harmful emissions, the only by-product is clean water). A team of young developers is working on the implementation of this bold idea at our university: the average age of researchers is 35 years, the share of researchers under the age of 39 is 68%.

The planned period of work on the project is from December 2019 to September 30, 2020. The amount of funding is 37.50 million rubles, including budget funds - 30.00 million rubles, extra-budgetary funds - 7.50 million rubles. For almost three months of hard work, the developers managed to review and analyze all the research available in the world on this topic. The team of NPI scientists assesses the relevance and relevance of their project as very high. The task of the polytechnics in cooperation with the enterprise is to create an efficient, sustainable hydrogen engine practically from scratch. Scientists want to get significant scientific results and develop new world-class technologies in the field of environmentally safe energy: solid polymer fuel cell technology, and bring to market mobile kilowatt-class power plants for unmanned aircraft systems and robotics! They have also developed a bipolar plate for solid polymer fuel cells intended for the power supply of unmanned aircraft.

 - We have created an experimental sample of a technological line for the manufacture of plates for fuel cells, which has already been successfully tested, - said the project manager, Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Professor of TF N.V. Smirnova. - An energy-efficient voltage converter has been developed to ensure optimal operating modes of the power plant. Patent research was conducted in accordance with GOST R15.011-96. The physicomechanical and corrosion functional characteristics of the first samples of bipolar plates are investigated.

The next important stage of work is testing. Scientists have already prepared the site and purchased the laboratory equipment necessary for conducting the PSP. Everything is ready for testing of the experimental sample and flight tests on an unmanned aircraft, including equipment for conducting ground (laboratory) tests. Using the application software packages "SolidWorks Flow Simulation" and "SolidWorks Simulation", the developers conducted parametric modeling and found the optimal design solution for a bipolar plate, and also obtained data on the distribution of temperature fields and gas flows depending on the geometry of the channels and the plate as a whole, external operating conditions.

- Now an experimental sample of technological equipment ensures the production of one bipolar plate for no more than 10 minutes, - said N.V. Smirnova. – We have confirmed that the developed technological modes and equipment allow us to produce strong bipolar plates with low contact resistance and high corrosion resistance. Such technical parameters of the plates will ensure a high specific energy intensity of the power plant, which is necessary for the power supply of unmanned aircraft. To date, such technological equipment for the mass production of fuel cell components has not been produced in the Russian Federation.

Based on the results of studies of the produced bipolar plates, a scientific article was prepared and accepted for publication in the Russian Journal of Electrochemistry indexed in the WoS and Scopus databases. Developments on the project were presented at the events of the exhibition "VUZPROMEXPO-2019".