H2FLY said it has for the first time successfully completed liquid hydrogen on-ground coupling tests with its HY4 aircraft.
The effort came as part of the HEAVEN project, run by a consortium of six companies to demonstrate the feasibility of using liquid cryogenic hydrogen in aircraft.
"The new liquid hydrogen storage system, which is designed and supplied by Air Liquide based on H2FLY’s requirements, has been successfully coupled with the fuel cell system on ground," said H2FLY, a Stuttgart-based developer of hydrogen fuel cell systems for aircraft.
The coupling, according to the company, "represents the final technological building block in the development of a complete hydrogen-electric powertrain using liquid hydrogen to power the HY4", referring to H2FLY’s four-seater demonstrator aircraft.
"With the successful passing of the on-ground coupling tests, we have learnt that it will be possible to scale up our technology for a 40-seater aircraft," said Josef Kallo, co-founder and chief executive.