氫動力客機完成「世界第一」首飛

本周，一架能夠載客的氫燃料電池飛機完成了首飛，向低排放和零排放飛行又邁進了一步。

ZeroAvia的六座Piper M級飛機已經過改裝，安裝了結合氫和氧發電的裝置，該飛機在周四完成了計程車、起飛、全程飛行和降落的任務。

ZeroAvia曾表示，此次旅行被描述為「商業級飛機的氫燃料電池動力飛行」，是「世界第一」。但是，確實存在可以容納乘客的氫燃料電池飛機的其他示例。

早在2016年，這架HY4飛機就可搭載四人，是從德國斯圖加特機場起飛時進行的首次正式旅行。HY4由德國航空航天中心的研究人員與「工業和研究合作夥伴」共同開發。

周四的ZeroAvia航班是在該公司位於倫敦北部50英裡的英格蘭克蘭菲爾德機場的研發基地進行的。該機場歸克蘭菲爾德大學所有。

ZeroAvia執行長Val Miftakhov在接受採訪時說：「雖然一些實驗飛機已經使用氫燃料電池作為動力飛行，但這種商用飛機的規模表明，付費乘客可能很快就會登上真正的零排放航班。」

ZeroAvia正在與項目合作夥伴智能能源和歐洲海洋能源中心（EMEC）共同發起一個名為HyFlyer的計劃。

EMEC描述了由英國政府支持的HyFlyer，其目標是「通過演示動力總成技術來代替螺旋槳飛機中的傳統活塞發動機，使中程小型客機脫碳」。

HyFlyer項目的下一步將是ZeroAvia致力於從位於蘇格蘭大陸北海岸水域的群島奧克尼群島進行250至300海裡的飛行。該飛機將使用氫燃料電池。希望這次旅行會在2020年底之前發生。

在ZeroAvia的航班上，有關這一消息的新聞截止到一周，歐洲航空航天巨頭空中巴士公司發布了三架氫燃料概念飛機的細節，稱它們可以在2035年投入使用。

這些名為ZEROe的設計在尺寸和樣式上有所不同，但全部都是零排放的，使用氫作為主要動力。

其中一種設計提供了關於未來幾年飛機外觀的激進願景。「混合機翼機身」概念最多可搭載200名乘客，機翼會與飛機主體「融合」。

儘管飛機上氫能的廣泛採用還遙遙無期，但陸上運輸形式已經在使用該技術，儘管規模很小。例如，氫公共汽車已被引入英國首都倫敦。

在其他地方，歐洲公司阿爾斯通（Alstom）開發了Coradia iLint，該火車利用燃料電池技術將氧氣和氫氣轉化為電能。

據該公司稱，它可以達到每小時140公裡（每小時87英裡）的速度，噪音低，並且「僅排放蒸汽和水」。

原文閱讀：

A hydrogen fuel-cell plane that's capable of carrying passengers completed its maiden flight this week, in another step forward for low and zero-emission flight.

ZeroAvia's six-seater Piper M-class aircraft — which has been retrofitted with the device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity — undertook a taxi, take-off, full pattern circuit and landing on Thursday.

ZeroAvia has said the trip, described as a "hydrogen fuel cell powered flight of a commercial-grade aircraft," is a "world first." Other examples of hydrogen-fuel cell planes that can host passengers do exist, however.

Back in 2016, the HY4 aircraft, which is able to carry four people, undertook its first official journey when it flew from Stuttgart Airport in Germany. The HY4 was developed by researchers at the German Aerospace Center alongside "industry and research partners."

Thursday's ZeroAvia flight was carried out at the company's research and development site at Cranfield Airport, in England — 50 miles north of London. The airport is owned by Cranfield University.

"While some experimental aircraft have flown using hydrogen fuel cells as a power source, the size of this commercially available aircraft shows that paying passengers could be boarding a truly zero-emission flight very soon," Val Miftakhov, the CEO of ZeroAvia, said in a statement.

ZeroAvia is heading up a program called HyFlyer alongside project partners Intelligent Energy and the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC).

EMEC has described HyFlyer, which is backed by the U.K. government, as aiming "to decarbonise medium range small passenger aircraft by demonstrating powertrain technology to replace conventional piston engines in propeller aircraft."

The next step of the HyFlyer project will see ZeroAvia work toward carrying out a flight of between 250 and 300 nautical miles from the Orkney Islands, an archipelago located in waters off the north coast of mainland Scotland. The plane on this flight will use hydrogen-fuel cells. It's hoped this trip will happen before the end of 2020.

The news on ZeroAvia's flight bookends a week in which European aerospace giant Airbus released details of three hydrogen-fueled concept planes, saying they could enter service by the year 2035.

The designs, named ZEROe, differ in size and style, but are all meant to be zero-emission, using hydrogen as their primary source of power.

One of the designs offers a radical vision of how airplanes could look in the years ahead. Carrying as many as 200 passengers, the "blended-wing body" concept would see wings "merge" with the aircraft's main body.

While the widespread adoption of hydrogen power in aircraft is still some way off, land-based forms of transport are already using the technology, albeit on a small scale. Hydrogen buses have been introduced to the U.K. capital of London, for example.

Elsewhere, European firm Alstom has developed the Coradia iLint, a train that harnesses fuel-cell technology to turn oxygen and hydrogen into electricity.

According to the company, it can reach speeds of up to 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per hour), is low-noise and "emits only steam and water."