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DeveloperPermalink Reply by Adam Rivera on February 17, 2012 at 10:40am

If you are referring to the ArduCopter frame that is not safely possible (regarding the lift). Even if you could accomplish that lift you would not be able to get 3 hours of flight time with the current battery technology. I have a very light (for its size), efficient octocopter that runs two parallel 7800mAh batteries (15600mAh total) and I get around 45 minutes of flight time lifting a GoPro camera. The octo is capable of lifting 10kg, but at nowhere near a 3 hr flight time. I run 8 AXI 2826/12 motors with 14x4.7 props. My entire frame is aircraft grade aluminum and carbon fiber. I believe the ArduCopter frame is aluminum and plastic(?)... not quite sure, but certainly not safe/possible to carry that much weight.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Zimmerman on February 17, 2012 at 10:58am

Thank Adam.

a) Do you sell/share your OctoCopter project details?

b) Is there any resource on how to build one like Do it Yourself for building such copter?

c) Is there any other type of battery (not LiPo) which could work better? How about adding Sun Cells and re-charging on the air capability?

d) You say that there is no any way of reaching 3 hours of flight?

Please advice.

Thanks

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DeveloperPermalink Reply by Adam Rivera on February 17, 2012 at 11:02am

a) There are several options out there for frames that can handle larger payloads. I do offer my frame for sale at http://sentientdrone.com

What details are you looking for?

b) This website is a massive resource, but if you are looking for specific goals and can't find something out there you may just have to engineer it yourself.

c) I toyed with solar cells, but for a copter that is drawing the amount of amps that you are talking about, solar energy is useless (too slow). LiPo is the best commercially available battery technology. There are some propane fuel cells that some university group created that have incredible life, but those are not commercially available. I think DARPA is the only one who has hands on that yet.

d) Currently, with that payload and the battery technology available, no.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Zimmerman on February 17, 2012 at 11:14am

I explained a part wrong, I want two different drones, one which can fly 3 hours and carry like 3kg (at max. could be lower) and other one which can carry 10kg and fly like 45 mins.

What do you think now?

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DeveloperPermalink Reply by Adam Rivera on February 17, 2012 at 11:21am

Well the 10kg at 45 min will be close to impossible but perhaps not entirely impossible. You are going to have to carry some additional batteries. The problem with adding more batteries is that the weight of the battery diminishes the power returns.

I don't have experience with smaller frames (quads) because I am focused on the heavy lift side of the business for now. I can tell you this, 3hrs on any frame is not currently possible. See this post: http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/incredible-flight-endurance

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Permalink Reply by Mark Zimmerman on February 17, 2012 at 11:52am

SO is there a DIY drone or how to build guide on a 45 min flight time drone without heavy load?

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DeveloperPermalink Reply by Adam Rivera on February 17, 2012 at 11:53am

Not that I am aware of. You would have to do the research and compile your own action plan.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Zimmerman on February 17, 2012 at 12:33pm

Which how to or ready made DIY platform would be a good start point for me which will require lower work from my side? I'm not expert in these stuff and I can't do it all from scratch, I need start point.

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DeveloperPermalink Reply by Adam Rivera on February 17, 2012 at 1:26pm

Depends on which scenario you are referring to. If you are interested in the large octo frame I sell, you can PM me and we can work something out depending on your needs. Or you can look for a different frame manufacturer like Mikrocopter. If you are interested in a quad there are several options out there. You could purchase the 3DR kit from store.diydrones.com under the ArduCopter link on the left hand side. I think they have a RTF version. Also, start reading the ArduCopter wiki here: http://code.google.com/p/arducopter/wiki/ArduCopter

Permalink Reply by marc.kulhavy on February 17, 2012 at 4:49pm

Hey Mark,

if you are looking for high lift and long flight time, a multi-rotor-system will not be the best approach.

You should look into the direction of traditional helicopters or at least at variable-pitch multicopters.

For high payload and long flight time you should consider to look at fuel-powered systems.

Several countries use helicopter-drones with diesel engines for surveillance missions, take a look at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiebel_Camcopter_S-100

The only electric driven multicopter capable of over 45mins of flight time incl. payload I know is the MD4-1000 from microdrones, used by the Police in Germany.

Regards

Marc

Permalink Reply by Kim Kristensen on February 24, 2012 at 3:02am

Helicopters have never been known for being power efficient, so I think you will need to think a bit out of the box to full fill your requirements.

I think one way forward could be to have a model airplane fuel engine on board with an attached generator. By doing this you can keep the electrical system almost as it is. You "just" have to add a charging circuit.

Just a tought

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Permalink Reply by marc.kulhavy on February 24, 2012 at 3:44am

As Mark was asking for long endurance copters, I assumed that his purpose was to make long endurance hovering flights in one spot.

For missions with long flight paths, an airplane is definetively the best approach. Take a look at the TAM-Project, they crossed the atlantic ocean with a gas powered model with a generator system: http://tam.plannet21.com/

A good electric driven glider can handle about 2 hours of fligth time, so the goal to get 3 hours should be near.

Regards

Marc

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