Intelligent Energy

First Responder UAS Endurance Challenge Stage 4 Finalist and 2nd Place Winner

Intelligent Energy is a fuel cell engineering business built on 30 years of PEM fuel cell development. It is focused on the development and commercialization of its PEM fuel cell technologies for a range of markets including automotive, stationary power and UAVs. It is headquartered in the UK, with additional operations in the US, Japan, Korea and China.

Intelligent Energy provides a unique solution to extend flight times to UAVs presently constrained by the limitations of batteries. Flight durations of over three times that provided by batteries have been achieved and fuel cells provide a natural solution for manufacturers moving to larger drones and heavier payloads.

Intelligent Energy’s air-cooled fuel cell systems run on hydrogen and ambient air to produce clean DC power in a simple, cost-effective, robust and lightweight package. They have a higher energy to mass ratio than battery based systems and can be refueled in a few minutes.

Team Members: Vincent Garnder, Yasin Mamodohanif, and Jonathan Douglas-Smith

Vincent Garnder - Product Support & Integration Manager - Remote Pilot in Command

Vincent joined Intelligent Energy 12 years ago as an R&D fuel cell engineer, having worked extensively on PEM fuel cell technologies resulting in several patent granted. He was a member of the development team integrating Intelligent Energy’s fuel cell technology to UAV fuel cell systems. He has worked on these products from conception through to final UAV integration and deployment on platforms such as the Gryphon Hexa 1600.

Yasin Mamodohanif – 2nd remote Pilot – Mechanical design Engineer

Yasin is a talented mechanical design engineer that has been with Intelligent Energy for nearly four years. Yasin is the principal designer behind the IE-Soar 2.4kW chassis and mechanical componentry for the product. Yasin also built and commission the Gryphon Hexa 1600 UAV and integrated the Pixhawk flight controller with the 2.4kW fuel cell system so fuel telemetry can be received by the pilot enabling such useful features as remote starting, fuel monitoring and over the air updates.

Jonathan Douglas-Smith – Aerospace Applications Specialist

Jonathan is an Aerospace Applications Specialist who has been with Intelligent Energy for three years. Jonathan has focused on both the sales and application engineering of fuel cells within Unmanned Aerial Systems and larger aircraft. Jonathan’s current focus is on business development within UAS and Urban Air Mobility eVTOL markets with an ambition to progress green energy to all sectors of aviation.

Fuel Cell Gryphon UAS Solution

The Fuel Cell Gryphon UAS is a hexacopter designed by Intelligent Energy and optimized for use with the IE-Soar 2.4kW Fuel Cell Power Module (FCPM).

Using several years of experience designing Unmanned Aerial Systems and fuel cells, the Intelligent Energy team designed the Gryphon UAS with safety and redundancy in mind while having the overall goal of maximizing loiter endurance. The vendors and components in the build were carefully selected for both performance and demonstrated reliability. The hydrogen cylinder selected for the solution is a DOT and TPED certified cylinder which means the cylinder must undergo strenuous tests which includes firing 7.62mm rounds at the cylinder and drop tests.

The IE-Soar 2.4kW FCPM was released in July 2020 and at the time of this submission the FCC and CE certified FCPM is the most power dense hydrogen fuel cell commercially available on the market for its target application – powering multi-rotor drones up to 55lb All Up Weight. The Fuel Cell Gryphon UAS can loiter with a 10lb payload for up to 100 minutes with greater than 10% emergency fuel remaining in reserves.

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Email: sales [at] intelligent-energy.com (sales[at]intelligent-energy[dot]com)