A small electric unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) achieved the record flight time of 7 hours powered by an advanced fuel cell system. The fuel cell system was provided by Protonex Technology Corporation ProCore fuel cell system. The UAV was an AeroVironment (AV) Puma small hand-launched electric AUV. (Note: AV link did not work at the time of this writing)
Protonex is a leading provider of advanced fuel cell power systems for portable and mobile applications. The ProCore UAV can provide up to 5 times the energy density of advanced battery systems.
The AV Puma has a flight time of approximately 2 hours on it’s standard battery power. The over 7 hour flight duration by the Puma using the Protonex ProCore fuel system far exceeded the flight duration of the Puma using any other power technology. AeroVironment has developed a number of solar and fuel cell powered vehicles and unmanned aircraft.
Both Protonex and AeroVironment are publicly traded companies. Protoniex trades on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol PTX, and AeroVironment is a NASDAQ company, symbol AVAV.
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Every positive step helps bring alternative energy closer to reality. Kudos to both companies for looking beyond their own bottom line.