The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM), under the Ministry of Science and ICT (President Park Sang-jin), has created an opportunity to accelerate the future hydrogen-based mobility society through the development of core hydrogen engine technologies.

The research team led by Choi Young, head of the Green Power Research Laboratory at the Environmental Systems Research Division of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials, announced on the 25th that they have developed a 5 kW small hydrogen engine for driving drones.

This is the first time a small hydrogen engine capable of being used as a power source for unmanned vehicles has been developed in Korea.

Currently, most unmanned vehicles such as drones use batteries as their power source, but recently, various attempts are being made to achieve long flight endurance, including gasoline engine hybrid systems and hydrogen fuel cell systems.

The research team applied a direct injection method for supplying hydrogen fuel within a small engine and optimized engine parameters such as ignition and injection.

The small hydrogen engine developed this time achieved a maximum output of over 7 kW, and the generator and rectifier manufactured for the development of the power pack module secured an output of over 5 kW. This is enough power to launch commercially available 20-30 kg industrial drones.

Hydrogen fuel has an energy density 2.8 times higher than gasoline, allowing for longer flight times compared to drones equipped with gasoline engines. It is also noteworthy as an eco-friendly, carbon-free technology that emits no carbon.

In the future, along with research to ensure the reliability of small hydrogen engines, additional research on the development of power pack modules combining engines with generators is expected to be applied to increasing flight time and expanding the mission range of industrial drones.

It is also expected to be widely used as a power source for unmanned vehicles such as delivery robots.

Director Choi Young said, “It is significant that we have preemptively secured technology to respond to the upcoming carbon-neutral society based on the development of small hydrogen engines,” adding, “We expect to be able to accelerate the arrival of a hydrogen society by expanding the fields where hydrogen engine technology can be applied.”

Meanwhile, this research was conducted with support from the KIMM basic project 'Development of Liquid Hydrogen Engines for Drone and Robot Drives'.