Unmanned Systems Technology 022 | XOcean XO-450 l Radar systems l Space vehicles insight l Small Robot l BMPower FCPS l Prismatic HALE UAV l InterDrone 2018 show report l UpVision l Navigation systems

57 that promises a major improvement is the use of a hydrogen-powered fuel cell. BMPower is showing that it can offer a practical fuel cell power system (FCPS) at a far more affordable price than the aerospace technology currently under evaluation in the military sphere. Its solution offers a threefold or more improvement in flight duration according to the specific application. Founded in 2012, BMPower has offices in the US, Switzerland and Russia, with its r&d centre located near Moscow. The company’s owner and business development officer Alexey Ivanenko says, “The main idea with our product is that customers can independently energise any unmanned platform. “We solved a lot of issues that customers might face when using an FCPS. For instance, how to fill up the system with hydrogen? How to obtain the required electricity parameters [current and voltage]? How to get equally high power across the whole temperature range of operation? How to monitor the state of the FCPS during the flight? “We developed and implemented many innovations that relate not only to fuel cell technology, but also to auxiliary subsystems, such as an automatic voltage regulator [DC-DC converter], a lightweight quick-release pressure regulator, a portable autonomous refuelling device and a power management system with the ability to measure the range and duration of flight and the actual electrical load. Our software also provides a user-friendly interface for the pilot, which allows real-time assessment of the state of the power system. “During development of the product, the key energy efficiency criterion for us was the specific energy density of our FCPS [with all components, not only for a module of fuel cells], because that is the key competitive advantage of an FCPS compared to lithium batteries. We developed our FCPS as a modular system so that customers can independently assemble the power system from the modules to obtain the required power and energy intensity. “We also simplified the system design. We use our own fuel cell technology with an open-cathode approach, we don’t BMPower fuel cell power system | Dossier We solved a lot of issues that customers might face when using an FCPS, such as how to obtain the required current and voltage Unmanned Systems Technology | October/November 2018 An unmanned helicopter powered by BMPower’s 3000 W FCPS. Its maximum take-off weight is 30 kg, it can carry up to 5 kg of payload and can fly for two-and- a-half hours (the same vehicle with lithium batteries manages only 20 minutes) The BMPower 1000 W fuel cell module seen from the top