Uncrewed Systems Technology 047 l Aergility ATLIS l AI focus l Clevon 1 UGV l Geospatial insight l Intergeo 2022 report l AUSA 2022 report I Infinity fuel cell l BeeX A.IKANBILIS l Propellers focus I Phoenix Wings Orca

79 of separating the oxygen and water, meaning additional fans, compressors or rotary phase separators. That both ‘solutions’ add points of potential mechanical failures as well as parasitic losses makes them problematic and generally sub-optimal for anyone seeking an efficient long-endurance autonomous system in sea, sky or space. Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen has therefore focused on maturing a PEMFC design that uses a static, passive means to wick away water as soon as it is produced, to another area of the fuel cell where it is collected. Infinity calls this technology the Advanced Passive Water Removal (APWR) system, in that it does not use directly powered or moving parts. Its passive nature also means it minimises the parasitic losses and points of failure within the company’s PEMFCs. Although Infinity can produce different kinds of PEMFCs, these ambient air- independent cells have drawn the most customer interest and are hence the first it plans to turn into commercial products. To that end, it is planning to produce a range of cells, from small ones in the 500 W to 2 kW range, to larger ones producing 10 kW or higher, all running on pure hydrogen and oxygen, and aimed principally at underwater and space vehicles. Company history Much of Infinity’s technology originated from Jim McElroy, who was an engineer on a passive water removal system used in the Gemini space programme in the mid-1960s, and who later moved to United Technologies Corporation’s (UTC’s) Hamilton Standard division, now part of Collins Aerospace and hence of Raytheon. “I ended up working there for Jim, and he and I collaborated for many years,” explains William Smith, president and founder of Infinity. “He was a major contributor in kicking off the APWR technology here through a series of NASA-funded activities almost 20 years ago.” Smith and McElroy worked at UTC until 1996, when the former left with some colleagues to found Proton Energy Systems, a company dedicated to developing electrolysers for generating hydrogen. Although that company successfully raised capital to commercialise its hydrogen technology, a desire to return to hydrogen-electric power systems drove Smith to leave Proton Energy Systems in 2002 and set up Infinity. “We founded Infinity essentially to advance fuel cell technologies around our core competencies, and to update our knowledge – which had originated in the 1960s – for modern PEMFC materials, new design breakthroughs and so on,” he explains. “After a few years of r&d, we were funded by NASA in 2005 through an SBIR from their Glenn Research Center to start developing our air-independent fuel cell solution.” Initially this was a small, Phase One $70,000 development programme. Infinity subsequently worked with the University of Connecticut and proved out the operation of its air-independent design using slightly modified COTS parts, including graphite bipolar plates (BPPs) and experiments with single cells. “NASA was delighted with the Phase One results and funded us for a Phase Two development round from 2005 Infinity APWR fuel cell | Dossier Uncrewed Systems Technology | December/January 2023 Infinity’s initial turnkey products to come from its manufacturing lines (when they are constructed and operating) will include PEMFCs designed to produce 500 W to 1 kW of electric power, as well as more powerful units