Intelligent Energy (IE), based in Loughborough, targets long-range winged UAVs with payloads between 150 kg and 750 kg, on logistics, security, defence and surveillance work. The IE-FLIGHT 120 extends the firm’s IE-FLIGHT aerospace line and fills the space between today’s IE-SOAR units and the higher-power cells it is developing for eVTOL and regional aircraft.
The same announcement reveals IE’s largest sale yet in the drone segment, for IE-SOAR systems. IE ties both items to rising interest in hydrogen drones that cover more distance, haul heavier loads and stay up longer than battery-driven designs.
The company claims flight durations three to five times those of batteries, with water vapour as the only emission. Compared with combustion engines, it lists lower noise, less vibration, reduced upkeep and a weaker thermal signature, traits it sees as an advantage for monitoring and defence roles.
Chief commercial officer Greg Harris says drone buyers are asking for bigger aircraft with longer range, heavier payloads and more endurance, and that hydrogen suits that demand. The new unit shares its platform with the cells meant for larger aircraft, he explains, so the technology scales to a new class of airframe.
Why it matters
The UK Government has pledged £5 billion for drones and autonomous systems in its Defence Investment Plan, and IE places its news in that context, citing the aim of a stronger domestic drone sector.
The company is also financing its high-power programme. Earlier in the year it won £17 million through HEIGHTS, a scheme backed by the Aerospace Technology Institute, to speed work on aviation stacks of high output. It has built a new test centre for these systems at Chelveston, Northamptonshire.
Intelligent Energy builds fuel cells for aerospace and drones, but also for eVTOL aircraft, data centres, material handling and microgrids. The firm, privately owned, holds 500 patents, makes units from 1 kW to 1 MW and has been manufacturing for a quarter of a century.
Source: Intelligent Energy newsroom
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FeaturedFuel cellsIE-SOAR 1.2 kW hydrogen fuel-cell power system
- Continuous power
- 1.2 kW
- Output voltage
- 50 – 70 V
- Grade
- Professional
FeaturedFuel cellsIE-SOAR 2.4 kW hydrogen fuel-cell power system
- Continuous power
- 2.4 kW
- Peak power
- 4.8 kW
- Output voltage
- 50 – 70 V
- FeaturedFuel cells
IE-DRIVE 100 PEM hydrogen fuel cell system
- Continuous power
- 65 kW
- Peak power
- 110 kW
- Output voltage
- 210 – 360 V
- FeaturedFuel cells
IE-DRIVE HD100 heavy-duty PEM fuel cell module
- Continuous power
- 110 kW
- Output voltage
- 250 – 400 V
- Grade
- Professional
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