I want to build a toy quadcopter but with a 1w fuel cell. I'm hoping it will last hours instead of minutes. I've found reasonably priced 1w fuel cells that are light enough but I can't find any small 700 bar tanks to hold the hydrogen and oxygen. Anyone know where I can find small tanks that can hold such great pressures?

 

The market for such things is so tiny (if it exists at all) that you will probably just have to phone someone working at a company that deals with high pressure systems, or perhaps is specialized in the construction of lab equipment and hydrogen lab-infrastructures.

 

Also, it's gonna be heavy. I'd be surprised if it was light enough to build into a helicopter or quadcopter.

Some directions :

 

- Find a methanol-fuelled cell.

- See what drones use. Many ones fly on fuel cells but they're bigger.

- Check the minimum weight of a hydrogen tank (don't store oxygen, use air) and compare it with a lithium battery. I bet hydrogen is worse.

- Store liquid hydrogen instead. Polystyrene foam is light.

 

Some hydrides and chemical reactions release hydrogen but I expect them all to weigh more than a lithium battery.

Do they make butane powered cells?

 

With just a very small amount of pressure you get a liquid fuel (energy density goes way up).