Hycopter Drone Flies for 4 Hours via Hydrogen Power

Ron Czapala

http://www.roboticstrends.com/article/hycopter_drone_flies_for_4_hours_via_hydrogen_power

http://www.gizmag.com/horizon-energy-systems-hycopter-fuel-cell-drone/37585/

A Singapore-based company called Horizon Unmanned Systems (HUS) has unveiled its Hycopter drone that runs on hydrogen power and can stay in the air four hours at a time - 2.5 hours when carrying a 2.2-pound payload.

xanadu

Wicked! I had no idea such a small amount of hydrogen had so much energy in it.

tonyp12

Looks like fuel-cells go for $2000-$8000, so this it's not going to be cheap.
http://fuelcellstore.com/fuel-cell-stacks/medium-power-fuel-cell-stacks

Ron Czapala

tonyp12 wrote: »

Looks like fuel-cells go for $2000-$8000, so this it's not going to be cheap.
http://fuelcellstore.com/fuel-cell-stacks/medium-power-fuel-cell-stacks

I think there are cheaper options - Jameco sells one for $129 but it is only 2 watts

http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_10001_10001_2163073_-1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyNc-97ZFhM

xanadu

That quad looks like it can hover around 5 amps based on the prop size and motors.

Besides a fuel cell to burn the hydrogen wouldn't you also need a refuel system to achieve 5,076 psi in the hydrogen tank? That's a lot of pressure!