Earlier we saw a U.S.-made drone that was powered by batteries and was able to fly only 40 to 60 minutes, and here we are yet again and this time with a much dependable drone built in Korea that can remain in air for as long as 10 hours. The secret behind the technique is the use of hydrogen fuel cells.
“The liquid fuel used in the fuel cell, can produce more hydrogen than hydrogen gas and is also more convenient for commercialization” says Prof. Kwon Se-jin from the department of aerospace engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), who along with Shim Hyun-chul, led a team of researchers in designing an improved, ideal drone.
A hydrogen fuel cell mechanism can be simply put as hydrogen and oxygen within the cell, reacts in a specific way to produce electricity. The hydrogen cell is said to produce ten-times more electricity than the traditional batteries used and is pretty light also, weighing about 750 grams with the fuel alone weighing 500 grams.
On the whole, the drone weighing 2 kg is, 1.2 m wide and 0.7 m high. Prof. Kwon and his research team expects the drone to be upgraded with an automatic flight control system – unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)and be commercialized for military or civilian purposes in a couple of years. All in good times, technology makes it all possible.
via : chosun
