You are here: Archives > November
2005 > Fuel Cells, Cartridges for Airline Passengers
Progress Made to Allow Fuel Cells and
Fuel Cartridges On Board Passenger Airliners Robert Wichert, USFCC
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has drafted
conditions that will allow the transportation and use of fuel
cells and fuel cartridges on board passenger airliners in response
to a proposal by the US Fuel Cell Council to allow all fuel
cell types covered by the appropriate international safety specifications
to be carried on board. At the same meeting, progress was also
made for transport of some hydrogen cartridges on cargo aircraft.
The action came during a two-week meeting of the ICAO Dangerous
Goods Panel in Montreal. The panel is still finalizing its meeting
results for approval by the ICAO Air Navigation Committee, but
the draft language allows the transportation and use of fuel
cells using butane fuel cells, formic acid fuel cells, direct
methanol fuel cells, and reformed methanol fuel cells by passengers
and crew. The new conditions: require compliance with the International
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Specification for Micro Fuel
Cell Safety, place limits on the size and number of fuel cartridges
to be carried, and allow transportation in carry-on baggage
only.
Once ratified, this passenger exception would go into effect
in the ICAO Technical Instructions on January 1, 2007. The various
member states (US, UK, Japan, et al) in some cases will also
need to revise their own rules prior to actual implementation.
Additional good news from the ICAO meeting is the result that
cartridges using hydrogen in metallic hydrides conforming to
IEC PAS 62282-6-1 were approved by the Dangerous Goods Panel
(DGP) for transport on board cargo aircraft. This will help
developers of hydride fueled systems by allowing them to ship
their hydride fueled products to users all over the world by
air.
Work will continue to build upon the new ICAO approval to ship
hydrogen in metal hydrides on cargo aircraft in efforts to obtain
the ability to allow passengers to carry hydride fueled systems
on board passenger aircraft in the US within the next two years,
in parallel with international implementation of the ICAO Technical
Instructions.
