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I've been keeping a casual eye on drones for a few years, and find it surprising that the flight time always stays between 20 and 30 minutes. Despite all the ad
by 1024core 7y ago
I've been keeping a casual eye on drones for a few years, and find it surprising that the flight time always stays between 20 and 30 minutes. Despite all the advances in every other department, the flight time has not changed. Why is that? I would have expected drones capable of flying for over an hour by now.
- jpm_sd 7y agoBoth the force of gravity and the energy density of lithium-ion remain more or less unchanged.
- timerol 7y agoEnergy density improvements in lithium batteries (the biggest factor in flight time) have been fairly gradual. There are drones that can fly longer, but they don't use batteries. There are a few drones that use the frame as a hydrogen tank, and can fly for about 4 hours. (https://edgy.app/hydrogen-powered-drone-hycopter-flight-4-hours https://edgy.app/hydrogen-powered-drone-hycopter-flight-4-ho...)
- LASR 7y agoWe’re kind of stuck with current battery tech. While a ton of research has been going into batteries, the energy density has barely improved. We’re very much at the extreme edge of diminishing returns with the current chemistries. It’s a fundamental material science limit. There are a few new chemistries that are significantly better. But those are nowhere near mass-production. Expensive, unreliable, unsafe. The very high-performance drones use carbon-fiber composites. Those have longer runtime with current batteries. But again, those are expensive.
- snovv_crash 7y agoExpect that to jump to ~40-50 minutes in the next year or so as some new battery tech comes to market. I've personally seen an endurance-test video of a small quadcopter with almost an hour flight time using prototypes of the new battery tech.