Using solar cells to charge the Phantom batteries in mid flight.

[PrecisionAeroworks]

Are there any gas powered drones out there? That would be a way to extend flight. Bus as a old RC flyer I can tell you it is messy and hard to get all for motors coordinated with each other. As for more batters and wind generator that is a pipe dream as someone else has already stated. I am sure that if we live long enough there will be advances in technology that one day we might be there. For now be happy with the 20+ mins and buy extra batteries.

Sure there are.
Reference Technologies
But not (yet?) in the consumer space. These things are REALLY expensive.

 

[Slow Polk]

WOW that is cool. But, I am guessing, that is way over my budget. Are there no gas powered drones for a "hobbies"? I wonder if someone could develop a gas motor that's connected to a generator and then that powers the electric motors! Just think a nice 4 cycle motor with a good size gas tank and then you can stay up for a hour or more. Ok some smart guy there is your assignment. Get back to me with any royalties. LOL

 

[jonebk12]

I'm no engineer, but I think weight would quickly become an issue with a hobby-sized gas powered quad. Although gasoline itself has a much higher energy density than the batteries we use, you need an internal combustion to harness that energy, and engines are simply heavy. Hence why gas powered quads are going to be relatively large and very expensive.

 

[PrecisionAeroworks]

Yup. Weight is the issue. The only instances I know about (with hybrid commercial uav's) with any practical success have used a Wankel engine (the size of a grapefruit, very expensive) and a central ducted fan design with outboard electric rotors. The Wankel drives the ducted fan directly, but also generates electricity to power rotors, charge auxiliary batteries, and power payloads.

They are also very loud. More of a "Swarm of Chainsaws Coming to Kill You" sound than the Phantoms "Swarm of Killer Bees Coming to Kill You" sound.

 

[Slow Polk]

Very interesting. I like the Wankel motor. I also am not a engineer but I wished I were. This would be a fun project to work on.

 

[Imabiggles]

Current design of phantom fights against the wind. Design should be improved so that wind helps Phantom. That way wind energy could increase flight hours drastically.

We have seen a glider can fly for hours in thermals with absolute no embedded source of energy.

bad analogy. RC Gliders have fixed wings with a low renolds number, rotor craft have higher renolds numbers and the prop has to spin to create it. Spinning is the issue. If quads harnessed wind power, sure you can get a 20 mile flight on a battery, but one way flight and that gets sort of expensive. renewable energy and flight are VERY difficult. look at the solar airplane and the MASSSIVE array size to weight ratio that is needed. If you want, you could strap a P3 to a 14 foot wingspan foam glider and glide all day with it. However, it likely is just easier to haul a camera up in the glider.

 

[Imabiggles]

There will be no damage on lipo battery with solar trickle charge.
With today solar panel, you might get .00001% increase in flight time if you line the whole upper body of the phantom with solar cell

Don't forget today quad is really nothing but a flying battery/camera. There is zero aero efficiency to help our lovely brick to stay in the sky.




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me thinks the sign and magnitude on that 0.00001% is incorrect, likely -5% due to weight.

 

[Ajginger]

Be great to have a very small lightweight generator on the bottom of all 4 motors that would feed back into the battery to just to EXTEND flight time.

Or is this impossible as well ?

 

[Imabiggles]

Be great to have a very small lightweight generator on the bottom of all 4 motors that would feed back into the battery to just to EXTEND flight time.

Or is this impossible as well ?

you will use the motors to generate the charge and the motors are powered by the battery, so yes, it would not extend flight time, rather tank it a bit. When you're thinking of stuff like this, ask yourself what was the original source of power that you want to use to make power. If it is coming from the source you want to charge, then you are out of luck as it will just drain the source harder.

 

[jonebk12]

Be great to have a very small lightweight generator on the bottom of all 4 motors that would feed back into the battery to just to EXTEND flight time.

Or is this impossible as well ?

The laws of physics will not allow this. Running those little generators requires an energy input, i.e. the battery. You can't get more energy out of a system that you put into it. Even if you were able to create a system that is 100% efficient (which is also impossible), the best you could hope to achieve is zero net gain or loss in energy. In fact, you'd lose flight time because those generators would add weight.

Same principle with the wind turbine idea. The craft will expend more energy pushing itself through the air and spinning those turbines than it will be able to recoup. Doesn't matter if you fly slow or fast. The turbines will inherently create resistance (which is why they spin) that must be overcome by increased energy usage by the craft.

 

[Mako79]

Are there any gas powered drones out there? That would be a way to extend flight. Bus as a old RC flyer I can tell you it is messy and hard to get all for motors coordinated with each other. As for more batters and wind generator that is a pipe dream as someone else has already stated. I am sure that if we live long enough there will be advances in technology that one day we might be there. For now be happy with the 20+ mins and buy extra batteries.

here's another...
Doubles as a picnic table.

 

[yorlik]

Maybe if we put BIGGER props on the front than the back, when we go forward it will go by itself and not use ANY battery power due to the larger props?

 

[The Reaper Crew]

Wind generators sound like they could work, try it and let us know.
Pity the motors couldnt be little generators as well.

My thought exactly !

 

[WetDog]

O.K. Maybe I`m a dreamer, but would a wind driven generator or generators mounted underneath possibly work? I know the drag would cause you to be forced to fly slow. There are lots of wind driven mini- generators on the market. Tons are on ebay. I`m gonna research more. Thanks for all the input guys.

You really, really need to take a very basic course in physics. What you are trying to build is a perpetual motion machine.

It doesn't work.

 

[DCDrone]

As another poster suggested, I believe the reduction in flight time as a result of the added weight of the solar panel would more than offset any gain you may have through trickle charging the battery in flight.

What he said. And what the other guy said. With any power storage or generation device, you have to do that math: How much power does it generate/store vs. how much power does it take to lift it up and carry it around.

That's why we don't strap car batteries to the bottom (though I have heard of tethered drones that supply power from the ground and can theoretically fly forever).

Solar/wind power is a long way from carrying its own physical weight.

 

[soulphantomflyer]

This might be a good middle ground.
Hydrogen-powered drone takes flight
Hydrogen-powered drone takes flight - BBC News


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[mrgoodwrench]

Keep dreaming OP. The light bulb, the Petrol horse, all pipe dreams that couldn't be achieved. The laws of physics can be defied. Their only boundaries are made by our own limited minds. People consider something to be impossible because they don't understand how to achieve it. People who say it can't be done should not be allowed to stand in the way of others who are doing it.

 

[yorlik]

Keep dreaming OP. The light bulb, the Petrol horse, all pipe dreams that couldn't be achieved. The laws of physics can be defied. Their only boundaries are made by our own limited minds. People consider something to be impossible because they don't understand how to achieve it. People who say it can't be done should not be allowed to stand in the way of others who are doing it.

Nice reply!

Keep dreaming, but also study just a tad about BASIC physics so the obvious is not considered something to discuss as new - such as windmill on top of a car, biger wheels on the back vs the front so always going 'downhill,' etc.

There ARE mysteries still out there. For instance, who knows how magnetism works? How did Tesla make electricity transmit with ZERO resistance to the other side of the earth? How does gravity work? What is there about all energy REALLY comes from a parallel universe - for free if you can just tap into it?

There are some kooky people out there still trying to defy physics as we know it today, or make that proverbial perpetual motion machine... I consult with a very well successful innovative man who's company is world famous, very successful, has backing from folks such as Sir Richard Branson, already has patented a dozen variations of his magnetic generator gidget that take in x #-ft or torque at a given speed, and outputs 3x #-ft at same speed.... perpetual motion? hmmmm... all done with powerful magnets...

Yes, keep dreaming, but keep it semi-real

 

[MikeTess]

Shirley, you jest.

 

[jonebk12]

Go ahead and defy the laws of physics and thermodynamics. You'll lose 100% of the time.