Hyperconductive materials enabling zero-emission flight with GKN Aerospace

Public summary

Aviation is a significant contributor to climate change through carbon and other gas emissions. The UK aviation sector is the third largest in the world. In 2022, it produced greenhouse gases equivalent to 30 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2), accounting for 7% of the country’s greenhouse emissions. Developing aviation alternatives that produce no CO2 or other greenhouse gases will dramatically reduce the climate impact from the sector. Aviation powered by hydrogen fuel cells has zero CO2 and zero NOx emissions and is therefore an essential part of the UK government’s net zero targets for domestic flights (2040) and all flights (2050). 

To address this, a consortium led by GKN Aerospace is tackling the technical challenges to build efficient, hydrogen fuelled, regional and sub-regional aircraft, that emit only water as a by-product. This work brings together experts from the University of Manchester, University of Birmingham, the University of Newcastle and the University of Nottingham together with leading industry experts GKN Aerospace, Parker-Meggitt, Intelligent Energy, Aeristech, and the Aerospace Technologies Institute. 

Delivery spans multiple projects and partners. The first project, H2GEAR, is a £54 million collaboration between industry and researchers to develop hydrogen fuelled, cryogenically cooled all-electric aircraft for short-haul flight.  HyFIVE has secured £40 million in funding to develop and test scalable liquid hydrogen fuel system technologies. Lastly, H2flyGHT (£44 million) will tackle the issue of scaling up these new hydrogen fuelled aircraft, to larger aircraft. 

The hydrogen fuel cells at the heart of this programme make use of innovative techniques to generate power from cold, liquid hydrogen. Instead of burning the hydrogen, as done in space rockets, the flow of liquid hydrogen is converted into electricity inside a fuel cell, powering the aircraft electric systems and propulsion.

The critical technology of this project that Manchester is leading on is being applied in H2GEAR.  Professor Smith and his team are developing the use of cryogenic cooling, using the cold liquid hydrogen itself, to produce ultra-efficient propulsion motors and other parts of the system to improve the overall energy efficiency of the aircraft. For the hydrogen to remain in liquid form, it must be cooled to below -250 °C. This cold liquid is then used to cool the electrical conducting components to below -200 °C. At these temperatures, the resistance of conventional conducting materials is dramatically reduced. Certain metallic conductors become hyperconducting materials, allowing the electric propulsion motors to achieve efficiencies of 99% and above. Unlike superconducting systems, which operate with zero electrical resistance under certain limiting conditions — but require very specialised materials — a hyperconducting system makes use of more conventional conductor materials and produce higher efficiencies than superconducting or conventional technologies for electric propulsion for aerospace. This means these systems can be delivered sooner, offering a greater overall impact on global emissions in the foreseeable future. 

Russ Dunn, Chief Technology Officer for GKN Aerospace, said: “Hydrogen-powered aircraft offer a clear route to keep the world connected, with dramatically cleaner skies. The UK is at the forefront of this technology, and the H2GEAR project is an example of industry, academia and Government collaboration at its best.” 

The H2GEAR research programme was funded by the Aerospace Technology Institute and the industrial partners and was launched in 2020 and is set to conclude in 2025. A small-scale demonstrator of the hydrogen powered motor is currently being tested at the University of Manchester, with possible full integration of a hydrogen powered, hyperconducting electric propulsion system on aircraft as early as 2035. The UK Hydrogen alliance estimates that the country’s aerospace sector is expected to generate revenue of over £30 billion per year from hydrogen powered aviation. 

Impact date	2020
Category of impact	Economic, Technological, Environmental
Impact level	Benefit