Honeywell Aerospace and its partners in the European Newborn programme have successfully integrated multiple subsystems into a functioning hydrogen power source capable of generating and supplying electricity for an aircraft. The milestone advances the consortium towards a complete megawatt-class hydrogen-electric propulsion demonstrator designed to meet aviation requirements.
Launched in 2023 and funded by the European Union through the Clean Aviation Undertaking, NEWBORN brings together 18 companies from 10 European countries. The next phase will centre on an integrated ground demonstration in which the hydrogen power source and batteries will supply electricity to an electric motor driving an aircraft propeller.
Honeywell Aerospace developed a dedicated test platform capable of reproducing a range of aircraft functions during trials of the hydrogen power source. Installed at a research and development facility operated by ÚJV Řež near Prague, the platform includes its own power supply, fluid distribution systems, electrical installations, control room, safety equipment and heat-rejection systems.
Engineers connected the fuel cells with the remaining subsystems and verified the operation of the complete electrical power source. Testing also covered system tightness, working-fluid parameters, interaction between subsystems, control algorithms and safety mechanisms, while subsequent trials will expand the power range and focus on improving stability and resilience.
“Project Newborn is not only a demonstration of new technology, but also proof that European industry, universities and research organisations can jointly pursue ambitious technological visions and turn them into functioning systems,” said Miroslav Matoušek, Newborn project coordinator at Honeywell Aerospace. Development is proceeding across parallel workstreams covering hardware, software, modelling, simulation and integration analysis.
PowerCell, Fraunhofer and Test-Fuchs have contributed to individual elements of the electrical power source and associated technologies, while Siemens Industry Software, KU Leuven, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and CIRA have supported modelling, simulation and integration analysis. Honeywell said this work has helped identify technical risks, validate design concepts and prepare the technologies for combined integration.
“Within the Newborn project, a range of interconnected technologies were developed in parallel – from air supply and conditioning systems, through hydrogen management and thermal management, to electrical power distribution, power electronics, control, communications and safety monitoring,” said Ondřej Kotaba, chief technology expert and technical leader of the NEWBORN project at Honeywell Aerospace. “Bringing all these subsystems together into a single functioning system will be the culmination of the project.”
The hydrogen power source will now be transferred to Gorizia, Italy, where the programme will enter its next phase and combine dozens of technologies developed at different sites across Europe into a single functional system. The fuel-cell power source will be integrated with battery systems from Pipistrel and a megawatt-class electric propulsion system developed jointly by the University of Nottingham, Honeywell Aerospace and Pipistrel.
Newborn aims to deliver a complete technology demonstrator that can support further development of hydrogen-electric propulsion. Honeywell said the final configuration will be one of the world’s most powerful aviation hydrogen-electric propulsion systems of its type.
