Preparing for take off
The aviation industry is striving to become climate neutral, with hydrogen widely expected to play a role as a future energy carrier. This requires not only new aircraft but also new infrastructure. Lufthansa Technik is forging a path towards such with the introduction of the Hydrogen Aviation Lab.
Lufthansa Technik last month unveiled the Hydrogen Aviation Lab, a project that sees the MRO company join
forces with DLR, ZAL and Hamburg Airport. Focussing on maintenance and refuelling procedures, the real-world lab aims to
provide insights that will be important for developing hydrogen infrastructure.
As part of this, a decommissioned Airbus A320 is being given a new lease of life in the service of science. The repurposed aircraft, which flew for Lufthansa Group for 30 years as ‘Halle an der Saale’, will be a testing ground to support future hydrogen-powered aircraft, of which entry into service is forecast for the middle of the next decade.
Michael Lagemann, a spokesperson for Lufthansa Technik, says: “One of the triggers for the Hydrogen Aviation Lab
was the announcement by Airbus that a first commercial aircraft powered by liquid hydrogen could see the light of day already in the middle of the next decade.
“If this is the case, we cannot start early enough to ready ourselves for safe and efficient ground handling and maintenance
of aircraft and components using this ‘non-drop-in’ fuel. Thus, we intentionally chose a very special, presumably even unique, focus area for the Hydrogen Aviation Lab, with a clear orientation on maintenance and ground handling processes.”
The laboratory is also expected to spur on developers of future hydrogen-powered aircraft generations by helping them to
optimise the procedures and safety levels during maintenance work or ground handling.
“We plan to ready ourselves; however, we also hope that research with the Hydrogen Aviation Lab will provide valuable impulses that aircraft designers can take into account while developing and designing new generations of commercial aircraft – especially from the ground operations and MRO perspective,” explains Lagemann.
Main research topics
With currently many more questions than answers, the Hydrogen Aviation Lab is designed to address a variety of areas
and research, including refuelling with liquid hydrogen; cooling, insulation and occupational safety; leakage of hydrogen gas, known as boil-off gas; and making stored hydrogen inert.
A particularly striking example Lagemann highlights is the refuelling with liquid hydrogen. Using current technology,
refuelling for a long-haul flight could possibly take several hours. Given the pressure on aircraft turnaround times in the airline industry, this would be clearly impractical.
Over the next few months, the Hydrogen Aviation Lab will be fitted with a full suite of test systems as well as an internal tank for liquid hydrogen and an onboard fuel cell, paired with supporting ground-based hydrogen infrastructure.
Parallel to research carried out using the physical hardware of the Hydrogen Aviation Lab, the project also involves the creation of a so-called digital twin of the Airbus A320. Therein, simulations will enable researchers to develop and test predictive maintenance methods for the systems and components of future aircraft generations. Using targeted data analyses, failures of hydrogen components and systems could thus be predicted ahead of their failure in the physical
system, allowing timely replacements before component failures affect aircraft operation.
A sustainable future
Sustainability has become a strategic pillar for Lufthansa Technik in recent years and whilst this project sees the company
investing in hydrogen infrastructure, Lagemann is clear this is seen as only one solution in aviation’s sustainability efforts.
“We believe that the future aviation landscape will potentially encompass a mix of various solutions, hydrogen being
only one such possible energy sources for future aircraft generations. For example, we also closely watch the developments of many other solutions, from drop-in capable sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) to hybrid or battery-electric powertrains for short-haul aircraft.”
Lufthansa Technik continues therefore to actively partner in a number of sustainability programmes and initiatives on industrial, regional, national and international levels