“HEATLAB” COMPANY RECEIVED THE STATUS OF SKOLKOVO RESIDENT IN THE CLUSTER OF ENERGY-EFFICIENT TECHNOLOGIES

In December 2019, “Heatlab” company received the status of “Skolkovo” resident in the cluster of energy-efficient technologies. This will allow “Heatlab” to receive external expertise, grant support, interaction with investors, assistance in protecting intellectual property and commercializing developments, tax preferences and benefits. The 750 leading Russian and foreign scientists and entrepreneurs from various fields, development institutes, universities, business angels, venture funds, and corporations interested in acquiring and using innovative products work with “Skolkovo”. 

Since 2017, specialists of the "HeatLab" company have been developing an autonomous power source of increased energy intensity using a hydrogen fuel cell and hydrogen cartridges for its energy supply.

Recent trends in energy supply for global strategic development make it necessary to pay more and more attention to the development of hydrogen fuel cells. One of the most promising technologies for feeding fuel cells is the technology for generating hydrogen by hydrolysis from metal hydrides. Its main advantage is its high gravimetric hydrogen storage capacity and safety. The "HeatLab"’s engineers have already assembled working prototypes of a fuel cell power source, a hydrogen cartridge, magnesium hydride production technology has been developed and patented, and magnesium hydride production has been organized at the ULNANOTECH place.

"Our company has developed a produce technology of magnesium hydride MgH_{2 -} the safe solid source of hydrogen. This technology is used in ones more our project – we are developing “the hydrogen energy source” with a gravimetric energy density 2-2.5 times higher than lithium-ion batteries. The principle of its operation is based on the conversion of hydrogen into electricity using hydrogen fuel cells, and the uniqueness is in the storage of hydrogen in a bound form.

Approximately 95% of modern commercial designs of unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) are powered by batteries — lithium-polymer (Li-Po) or lithium-ion (Li-Ion). The power source and the type of engine that provides flight characteristics are directly dependent on the entire system. Therefore, adding batteries to the system does not increase the flight time and payload. To increase the flight time, it is necessary to improve the quality of energy storage, i.e. to increase the specific mass and specific volume energy of the batteries.

The best specific mass values are achieved by using liquid or highly compressed hydrogen.

UAVs fly on hydrogen compressed to 350 bars, which is not safe, since in an accident there is a possibility of depressurization and explosion. Our development provides energy for devices based on a stable flow of hydrogen, which is supplied from a chemical source of hydrogen that operates almost without increased pressure. The device allows to achieve an energy storage density of 2-2.5 times greater than the energy density provided by lithium-ion batteries. This energy reserve will increase the duration of the UAV flight, " explained project Manager Dmitry Novikov.

According to experts, the developed energy source can be used in mobile and portable power systems for unmanned air vehicles and robotics, autonomous and backup power systems, non-volatile charging stations for batteries, electric loaders, electric bicycles, electric scooters, exoskeletons.

The “HeatLab” is a project company and resident of ULNANOTECH (Ulyanovsk). The key specialization of the company is research and development. Since 2016, the company's team has been creating materials with specified properties, heat- conducting materials used in power electronics, the aerospace industry, and the development of hydrogen storage systems.