Launched the world's first hydraulic drone

Flowcopter begins testing hydraulic drones. (Photo: Flowcopter)

Multi-rotor helicopters can lift heavier loads and stay in the air longer if a high-density energy source such as gasoline is used instead of a low-density lithium battery. But the gasoline engine barely reacts quickly enough to keep the vehicle balanced when the wind changes direction rapidly. Edinburgh company Flowcopter found a new solution with the world's first hydraulic multi-rotor helicopter. The company's super-heavy cargo drones will use internal combustion engines. The motor drives the digital metering pump to run the hydraulic motor.

These pumps can distribute and coordinate hydraulic flow in a number of different power levels with digital controls and near-instant response times to balance the drone in flight. Each hydraulic motor delivers up to 96 kW of power despite weighing just 5.5 kg and costing less than $1,000.

The weight of the digital metering pump, internal combustion engine and fuel system can be quite large but the use of gasoline provides a higher energy density than lithium, which offers more benefits than drawbacks. , as estimated by Flowcopter. The company says the new multi-rotor model can operate for six hours with a full tank of gas and has a range of 900km. Vehicles can carry 150kg of goods in short journeys.

Flowcopter built a prototype and conducted ligature flight testing. The prototype wobbled a bit, but took off successfully.