Please note that Germany now has a 42-kW [ 56 horsepower ] piloted self-launching airplane/glider combo. It's fueled with underwing pods of Refrigerated Liquid Hydrogen and uses a PEM fuel cell. View it here:
www.lange-aviation.com
At about 100 mph airspeed, it's capable of over 24 hours of uninterrupted flight time before it must land for refueling ..... That's over 2,400 miles folks!
One other extended-range UAV drone is the " KAIST " college Research and Development program in South Korea. They've got a new flying-wing UAV drone. Originally, they claimed it was powered with 500g of liquid hydrogen, a fuel cell and electric motor. More recently, however, they claim that it is fueled with sodium borohydride. Oddly enough, the wording of the report I read altered slightly [ between last year and this year ] .... maybe for proprietary or security related reasons .... Nonetheless, this very special purpose UAV drone is capable of over 10 hours of uninterrupted flight time, before it must land for refueling.
My bet's on Refrigerated Liquid Hydrogen for maximum flight time and distance.....Unsure about the potential for sodium borohydride..... Far and away more BTU's in the Refrigerated Liquid Hydrogen.....KnowhatimeanVerne?
Imagine, if you will, a working scale-model of The Seattle Space Needle, for UAV Search and Rescue Camera Drone, Property Photography and Personal Security use.
Envision the www.microdrones.com " Powerplant " being installed INSIDE a scale model of the 1962 World's Fair Seattle Space Needle.
Propulsion configuration is a judicious blend of:* 4 EV Electric Motors* PEM Fuel Cell* Refrigerated Liquid Hydrogen* Lithium Batteries and* military-specification Ultra-Capacitors
This vital new category of UAV drone could be easily be equipped with GPS Auto-Pilot or GPS-Waypoint-Navigation. This way, unwanted radio frequency interference is far less probable.
Notable are these facts:* Liquid Hydrogen contains about 3X the BTU value of Jet-A or Aviation Gasoline.
* PEM fuel cells are 1.5X to 2.5X more efficient than almost every kind of internal combustion engine
* EV electric motors with PWM / MOSFET electronic controllers eliminate alot of the drivetrain efficiency losses you'd otherwise encounter
For some strange reason, I attract negative comments like a very small / ultra-powerful liquid nitrogen cooled electromagnet. God only knows why .....
Over 24 hours of liquid hydrogen / fuel cell / electric motor powered flight time is a far cry from the mistaken 13 minute flight duration lithium battery / electric motor powered airplane which is also sold on this web-site.
Finally, the aforementioned model " DLR-H2 " 42-kW / 56 horsepower piloted airplane at www.lange-aviation.com was flight tested late last year. Production this year, with new world " zero-pollution " aviation distance records may indeed follow.
If you can help, lemmi know and join in.If not, then please keep distractional comments to yourself.
After being ridiculed and ignored for 9 years or more on my Fuel Cell / Liquid Hydrogen / Electric Motor / Lithium Battery / Ultra - Capacitor Aviation Propulsion Design ideas, I'm not in the mood for any more of it, especially since my very basic & vital idea is now a flight-tested commercial reality in Germany.
Save the chiding for your children.
Cheers!Mr. G. Thomas1.480.528.1156Avondale, Arizona USA
Other web sites of interest -disclaimer: It is not my intent to promote nor endorse any of the following companies. I'm just providing technical information on potential UAV drone parts suppliers.www.acpropulsion.com , www.maxwell.com , www.ballard.com , www.sourceguides.com , www.popularmechanics.com August 2001 edition - you are looking for a full page drawing of a very interesting Urban High Rise Building Search & Rescue Hovercraft that PM magazine claims is made at " DM Aero Safe Group " in Ashdod, Israel.
USA Digital TV Conversion - [ extra available rf-signals from February 17th, 2009 digital TV conversion will help alot with the future deployment of plenty of telemetry operated UAV drones ].Southeast Asia Memorial Wall in Washington DC - My Uncle Charles [ Chuck ] Earl Schoolcraft is listed on Panel 32W, Line 051 of the SE Asia Memorial Wall. Army records say he was run over & killed by a US Army " half - track " armored truck in the province of Tuyen Duc, Vietnam on February 17th, 1969. This was Chinese New Years Day .... precisely ONE Chinese calendar year, to the very day, after that nasty Tet 1968 episode.
How bizarre!
