Performance study of a hybrid aircraft propulsion system integrating a high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell

To address the challenges of aviation carbon emissions and overcome the performance limitations of aviation turbine engines, this study proposes a hybrid aircraft propulsion system (HAPS) integrating a high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) and a turbofan engine. The system utilizes the physical and chemical endothermic effects of the methanol steam reforming process to effectively cool the high-temperature air from the compressor outlet to below 465.67K, resolving the temperature mismatch between the fuel cell and the turbofan engine. Additionally, a bypass airflow-based cooling scheme achieves waste heat recovery efficiency of 10.13 %–13.31 %. By developing a lumped-parameter thermodynamic model, the study systematically analyzes the impact of key design parameters, providing a theoretical foundation for performance optimization. Comprehensive performance analysis results suggest that the HAPS achieves an equivalent bypass ratio of 28.75 and an overall efficiency of 37.65 %, representing a 10.62 % improvement over the baseline turbofan engine. CO₂ emissions are reduced by 28.21 %. Although the water-carrying requirement leads to a 3.27 % decrease in specific impulse, this study validates the feasibility of the proposed technical approach, offering new insights for the low-carbon transformation of aviation propulsion systems.