The goal of the project is to design and construct a radio-controlled airplane capable of sustaining flight with the use of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). This is a joint project between a Mechanical, Chemical, and Electrical Engineering team. The Electrical Engineering team is responsible for creating a data acquisition system (DAQ) that successfully captures flight data to measure the efficiency and relative status of the PEMFC. The data being measured includes voltage, current, air speed, temperature, and altitude. The Electrical Engineering team is also responsible for developing a system to switch between PEMFC and battery power. During takeoff and landing, the RC airplane should use battery power to create a sufficient amount of thrust. When the RC airplane is at an ideal cruising altitude, the power system should be switched to the PEMFC. The DAQ will read the current and voltage outputs of both the battery and PEMFC separately to confirm that the system is working as intended.

Our team collaborated with Chemical Engineering 12,Mechanical Engineering 65 on this project.