Solar powered drone

Hi,

It looks like a few people have tried, and sometimes have found success, in making completely solar-powered drones. As someone with little drone making experience, how can I expect to replicate this and make a similarly fully-solar powered drone?

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  • Ok, I did it

    https://hackaday.io/project/166375-magic-flying-solar-carpet

    Magic Flying Solar Carpet

    Magic Flying Solar Carpet Project

    is on on Hackaday

    You are welcome to join our R&D team

    Magic Flying Solar Carpet
    Magic Solar Panel Project Flying Solar Panel Project Magic Solar Carpet Project developed after https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_carpetWatch [http…
  • Thank you.

    You are free to email me at

    manta103g@gmail.com

    Hackaday is a nice place for the Magic Solar Panel Project

    or Flying Solar Panel Project

    or Magic Solar Carpet Project

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_carpet

    supporting chat, multimedia and more nice features, attracting others to join in and support us.

    https://hackaday.io/projects

    What matters is to build or buy lightweight solar panels, flexible/ semi-flexible solar panels

    Printed solar cells, printed solar tape feature very low efficiency at 1-4%

    and are still  overpriced today for any such venture but I keep in touch with 2 manufacturers from Europe

    Magic carpet
    A magic carpet, also called a flying carpet, is a legendary carpet, and common trope in fantasy fiction. They are typically used as a form of transpo…
  • Hi Darius, will do. Do you have any other form of contact so we can keep in touch? I added you as a friend - please accept so I can message you my email address.

    d j said:

    not sure why my last reply doesn't seem to be visible

    ""Ok, you did it. I can build 3 all solar drones. Since it's not easy to get public funding and…"

    keep trying to get it back in full

    I can access my reply via the belowe web link

    https://diydrones.com/xn/detail/705844:Comment:2950337?xg_source=ac...

    but I am redirected to main thread only

    So once again.

    I can build 3 solar drones (micro scale, mini scale and full scale solar drone as a proof-of-concept)

    There is a bug with Firefox web browser for MS windows, not opening web links in bottom of SG's page

    Chrome works fine but I prefer Firefox.

    It may take me some time to discuss and solve the problem with Mozilla

    I am building Solar Drone r&d Team

    you are free to join

    Funding is a problem since I am limited to fund personally miccro and mini solar drones only.

    Not sure about any public interest in solar drones.

    Can you contact the professor from SG's university to get more technical details about the project ?

    Solar powered drone
    Hi, It looks like a few people have tried, and sometimes have found success, in making completely solar-powered drones. As someone with little drone…
  • not sure why my last reply doesn't seem to be visible

    ""Ok, you did it. I can build 3 all solar drones. Since it's not easy to get public funding and…"

    keep trying to get it back in full

    I can access my reply via the belowe web link

    https://diydrones.com/xn/detail/705844:Comment:2950337?xg_source=ac...

    but I am redirected to main thread only

    So once again.

    I can build 3 solar drones (micro scale, mini scale and full scale solar drone as a proof-of-concept)

    There is a bug with Firefox web browser for MS windows, not opening web links in bottom of SG's page

    Chrome works fine but I prefer Firefox.

    It may take me some time to discuss and solve the problem with Mozilla

    I am building Solar Drone r&d Team

    you are free to join

    Funding is a problem since I am limited to fund personally miccro and mini solar drones only.

    Not sure about any public interest in solar drones.

    Can you contact the professor from SG's university to get more technical details about the project ?

  • I dont think it is impossible.

    An autonomous 100% solar-powered quadcopter was created in NUS. http://news.nus.edu.sg/press-releases/solar-powered-quadcopter It doesn't look very stable, but it is one example of hitting the sweet spot in terms of weight/flightworthiness 

    As you said in your first response there's no batteries so it can fly indefinitely during the day. Weighs 2.6kg and surface area 4 sqm, 148 solar cells and autonomously flies with a GPS system. (can fly for hours just off solar)

    d j said:

    I carefully followed the success mission of powered glider called Zephyr

    And what you call "other people have achieved at least long flight times"

    is $MM  budget funded project

    "

    solar-powered robotic plane, dubbed Zephyr, soared above the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona from July 9 to July 23.

    Built by British defense contractor QinetiQ, the drone’s 336 hour, 22 minute flight crushed the previous endurance record for a robotic plane, which was held by Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Global Hawk drone. That unmanned flight, which took place in March 2001, lasted 30 hours and 24 minutes.

    To succeed, Zephyr required remote navigation to fly against jet streams to boost altitude for free.

    To fly against jet streams you need an international team of weather forecasters, collecting live data on geolocation, wind speed.

    Othewise your powered glider may ground  prematurely as any other powered glider from the past.

    In case of quadcopter, there is no room to install solar cells, so just give up such project as mission impossible.

    What I have built for 100kg cargo drone challenge by Airbus, was powered paraglider and it makes sense to turn powered paraglider into autonomous or RC solar paraglider

    qrun said:

    It seems that other people have achieved at least long (not perpetual) flight times by using this model of recharging batteries with solar during the day. The drone also would have to fly at a relatively low latitude, and again unlike projects like this which are in constant motion the drone will only have to hover. I will keep researching, but I think it is possible to have the drone in the air for days if not weeks on end. but ill try calculating it

    tethering seems like an interesting solution to combine with a solar powered charging station - it also seems like solar uavs in the past like atlantik solar (which ran purely off of solar because it was operated in the ice caps where the sun never sets) suffered from instability in adverse weather conditions & wind because of how light they needed to be (information i got after emailing the lab in charge of the drone), which tethering may also help? sorry, im extremely new to this and still in high school.

    Fly high and far with Asia’s first fully solar-powered quadcopter drone created by NUS students
    Aircraft that can take off and land directly without the need for a runway – such as helicopters and quadcopters – are attractive for personal, comme…
  • I carefully followed the success mission of powered glider called Zephyr

    And what you call "other people have achieved at least long flight times"

    is $MM  budget funded project

    "

    solar-powered robotic plane, dubbed Zephyr, soared above the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona from July 9 to July 23.

    Built by British defense contractor QinetiQ, the drone’s 336 hour, 22 minute flight crushed the previous endurance record for a robotic plane, which was held by Northrop Grumman Corp.’s Global Hawk drone. That unmanned flight, which took place in March 2001, lasted 30 hours and 24 minutes.

    To succeed, Zephyr required remote navigation to fly against jet streams to boost altitude for free.

    To fly against jet streams you need an international team of weather forecasters, collecting live data on geolocation, wind speed.

    Othewise your powered glider may ground  prematurely as any other powered glider from the past.

    In case of quadcopter, there is no room to install solar cells, so just give up such project as mission impossible.

    What I have built for 100kg cargo drone challenge by Airbus, was powered paraglider and it makes sense to turn powered paraglider into autonomous or RC solar paraglider

    qrun said:

    It seems that other people have achieved at least long (not perpetual) flight times by using this model of recharging batteries with solar during the day. The drone also would have to fly at a relatively low latitude, and again unlike projects like this which are in constant motion the drone will only have to hover. I will keep researching, but I think it is possible to have the drone in the air for days if not weeks on end. but ill try calculating it

    tethering seems like an interesting solution to combine with a solar powered charging station - it also seems like solar uavs in the past like atlantik solar (which ran purely off of solar because it was operated in the ice caps where the sun never sets) suffered from instability in adverse weather conditions & wind because of how light they needed to be (information i got after emailing the lab in charge of the drone), which tethering may also help? sorry, im extremely new to this and still in high school.

    Solar powered drone
    Hi, It looks like a few people have tried, and sometimes have found success, in making completely solar-powered drones. As someone with little drone…
  • yeah, but i realize quadcopters dont have the surface area and dont have lift to lessen the amt of power required
    Andrew Murphy said:

    Hi there, just to be clear are you saying you want to build a solar powered quadcopter because it is less complex than a solar powered fixed wing aircraft because it only has to hover? And you want the solar powered quadcopter to stay aloft for weeks?

    Solar powered drone
    Hi, It looks like a few people have tried, and sometimes have found success, in making completely solar-powered drones. As someone with little drone…
  • Hi there, just to be clear are you saying you want to build a solar powered quadcopter because it is less complex than a solar powered fixed wing aircraft because it only has to hover? And you want the solar powered quadcopter to stay aloft for weeks?

  • It seems that other people have achieved at least long (not perpetual) flight times by using this model of recharging batteries with solar during the day. The drone also would have to fly at a relatively low latitude, and again unlike projects like this which are in constant motion the drone will only have to hover. I will keep researching, but I think it is possible to have the drone in the air for days if not weeks on end. but ill try calculating it

    tethering seems like an interesting solution to combine with a solar powered charging station - it also seems like solar uavs in the past like atlantik solar (which ran purely off of solar because it was operated in the ice caps where the sun never sets) suffered from instability in adverse weather conditions & wind because of how light they needed to be (information i got after emailing the lab in charge of the drone), which tethering may also help? sorry, im extremely new to this and still in high school.

    Solar Powered Unmanned Aircraft
  • follow-up

    the company developing Perovskite Thin Film  printed PV cells, claiming 10-15% efficiency

    is not ready yet to offer market product.

    There is a chinese company selling semi-flexible solar cells, which can be lightweight to lower solar payload footprint

    and just another company claiming having developed technology to cut crystal silicon ingot

    to very thin slices, making them almost flexible.

    Give me more time to get in touch

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