航空甲醇重整燃料电池混合动力系统性能分析与应用评估

All electric propulsion aircraft is one of the technological approaches to achieve aviation carbon reduction. In the design process of aircraft electric propulsion systems, integrating the advantages and balancing the disadvantages of power sources to achieve hybridization has become a feasible solution. This paper proposes an aviation methanol reforming fuel cell hybrid power system and constructs an energy cascade conversion scheme from methanol reforming to fuel cells. Mathematical models were established to analyze the performance of the hybrid power system. Various parameters affecting system performance, including reforming temperature and current density, were investigated, and the application evaluation of the hybrid power system on the X-57 aircraft was completed. The results indicate that the electricity generation efficiency of the hybrid power system under design conditions is 40.33%. The use of the hybrid power system extends the endurance time of the X-57 aircraft to 2.71 h, approximately 4 times that of lithium battery power alone. The power system using green methanol as fuel reduces full lifecycle carbon emissions by more than 65%.