I would like to share our last experience with the ardupilot community. It is the first time that I publish results of our project here. It’s time!
We have been working with arducopter since beginning. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the developers for their work. We are using a dropix into a aluminium case with micro-D connectors.
Our last experience has been a flight of 3 hours and 35 minutes. It is our longest flight so far, the flight is an internal test in which we did not plan to fly so long. In fact we had 400gr of extra weight that could have been removed and the fuel tank was not full at all. We take off with 5 liters but it is possible to fill 5.2 liters or so.
The relevant thing for us is that this unit is a “stock” aircraft, we have not made any modifications, lightening or additional fuel tanks to do this test, the maximum flight time of the aircraft should be over 4 hours, obviously without any payload. In normal operation flight times should be between 2 and 3 hours.
very impressive!
Do you sell the motor setup separately for use in other aircraft? I’d love to see this in a fixed wing for more speed (and more endurance).
It could be interesing to test into a fixed wing. Right now the engine controller, battery charge… is integrated in the multicopter power distribution board so we have to do some work to use in other project. If you have a serious project let me know,
depends what you mean by serious - its the sort of thing we could consider for CanberraUAV for the outback challenge, but we’re a non-profit, so not much money
I do think that this sort of hybrid could produce fantastic range in a fixed wing. It would also be ideal in a VTOL.
Yes, this hybrid configuration have more sense in multicopters, but i think you can get surprising results on a fixed wing also.
what dimensions? airplane or flying wing? I think for this kind of project probably you need smaller range extender, I think a X8 wing only need about 150watts. I was working on a smaller range extender with a 4 stroke engine. I can help you with this project.
