Dutch build world's first flying hydrogen boat

The Hydromotion Team of TU Delft is putting the finishing touches to the world's first flying hydrogen boat. The team of 25 students, all volunteers, has been working into the evenings for almost a year on the boat that is expected to revolutionize the maritime world. FHI spoke with Chief Electronics Peer Kalk about the electronics in the flying boat.  

The 22-year-old student will be a plenary speaker at the D&E event on 17 May in Evoluon. Despite his young age, Kalk is no stranger to innovative propulsion technologies for water vehicles. He was previously part of the famous Solar Boat Team of TU Delft. This team developed so-called 'solar boats' that were powered by solar energy. After 15 years, the team members decided to change tack. Kalk explains why: “We participated in competitions in Monaco and noticed for a while that the innovative element had worn off. We kept seeing the same boats with the same people using the same technologies. The growth had stopped and we wanted to try something new.”

Sustainable alternative

“The idea to investigate the possibilities of hydrogen soon arose. It turned out to work so well that we decided to stop with the solar boats and focus entirely on hydrogen. That was a big step, but we have never regretted our decision. In 2021, the Hydromotion Team converted the winning solar boat into the very first foiling hydrogen boat in the world. This year we are making the first boat in which all systems around hydrogen are built. I am quite proud of that. We have shown the maritime sector that it is possible and in doing so we have also introduced a new sustainable alternative to diesel and petrol. Hydrogen is non-polluting, stable and can be generated in the Netherlands. In addition, generating it is cheaper than polluting alternatives. During the D&E event I want to inspire other parties to get started with this as well.”

High and low power PCBs

“During the event, I will focus on the technical aspects of the flying hydrogen boat. The heart of the boat is the software that we develop ourselves. We also build the hardware components in-house and solder them onto the printed circuit boards (PCBs) ourselves. We work with two printed circuit boards: a high power and a low power PCB. The high power ensures the cooling of all high power systems and the control of the fuel cell and the engine controller. The high power-EMS (energy management system) also keeps track of how full the batteries are, because we can't sail 100% on hydrogen yet. We need batteries as a buffer to help the fuel cell. It can't always respond immediately to small fluctuations in the motor controller. For example, the high power to ensure that all systems work together properly and remain at the right temperature.”

Energy management system

"It low power-EMS controls the pumps that allow us to get water out of the boat and it keeps track of the low systems. The low power so it controls the buffer so we can open it up when needed and it makes sure the 24 volt converter is controlled properly. Those two together, the high and low power, are us energy management system. In addition, we have a dashboard where all the buttons for the copilot come in. It consists of four buttons with which we control different systems on the boat. The buttons are fully hardware-connected with the rest of the boat. The first button ensures that our back up battery when it is needed. That way we turn on our 24 volts when we first come on board and we can power all of our PCBs at once and the sensors and fans of the buffer. The fans convert our water cooling to air cooling in the watertight boxes of the buffer. This makes it possible to check the entire boat before we sail it.”

Lie straight

“With the second button we turn on the 24 volt converter and also the buffer where the pumps are connected. The third button is for the motor controller and the last button for the fuel cell. This year we paid extra attention to safety and that is why all buttons are hardware switched. So if we turn off the second button, the third and fourth buttons automatically turn off. This is completely switched through to the rest of the system. If one button is turned off, there is no high voltage on the boat anymore and that is very desirable for safety.”

“If there is an unexpected leak in the hydrogen tank, the buzzer will go on, so that the pilot and co-pilot can take immediate action. There is also a PCB in the steering wheel that processes the information from all the buttons and behind that we have attached a small PCB that controls the display. This allows the pilot to see how fast the boat is going and what the power and temperatures are of the various devices on board. Finally, each wing has its own height control PCB. They ensure that the wings are properly actuated. The sensors on the wings measure, among other things, which angles the foils must maintain and send that information to the actuators. The sensors also measure the distance to the water and the angle of the boat. This way we know for sure that the boat remains straight while sailing.”

Partners

“We design the PCBs ourselves, but we do work closely with other parties. For example, we have the PCBs produced at Eurocircuits. The waterproof cables and device connectors bee Phoenix Contact and Würth Electronics supplies the capacitors and LED lights, among other things. We have dozens of partners, commercial and non-commercial, who support us in the development of our boat and that is also necessary because it is a gigantic project.”  

Attend presentation?

Kalk and his 24 teammates are currently putting the finishing touches to the flying hydrogen boat. They have been testing since January and want to launch the boat for the first time in May. In July, the team will participate in the Open Sea Chall in Monaco. In between all the activities, Peer also makes time for his presentation during the D&E event. “Hopefully I can make it clear to parties during D&E how the electronic design of our boat. Then I have achieved my goal.”

Do you want Peer Lime? live hear about the flying hydrogen boat? Register for free for the D&E event on May 17 in Evoluon Eindhoven via this link: https://fhi.nl/dene/.