ThomasLaporte

8 ms·

31.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
That's a very good idea, we've heard about a ukrainian student who created a demining drone but for now we're on inspecting energy infra!
32.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Ahaha a lot of people would love to hop in there (one day maybe ;) ) We've studied a lot batteries and drones and we don't think that drones will reach the specs we can get through a lighter than air aircraft. Even for civilian he
33.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Yes exactly, we are doing a preventive maintenance solution. So we fly whenever possible to assess the condition of the power line.
34.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
We can withstand winds up to 10-11m/s. If there is more winds or rain that is forecasted then we'll just wait it out.
35.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
I think it might be to heavy for our use case.
36.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Thank you!! Around 50ft to 150ft is a good range! Also, in the medium term there won't be any team co-ordinating the HyLighter on site. It will be remote pilot dealing with the object and just a driver delivering it a take off point an
37.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
"There are no dumb questions" - Oogway Regular drones are awesome to make short missions (you need to check one electrical pylone or a small bridge - take a drone). But on bigger scale they don't have enough range to do this
38.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Our envelope is antistatic so it reduces greatly the risks you are referring to. We can't wait to conduct a real life test of our hylighter crashing in a power line (there are places to conduct such tests in France).
39.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
That's awesome! Thank you for telling us! And hi from Paris ;)
40.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Wow thank you so much for the support. For now, we've focused a lot of our time on building the vector to gather the data. We did POC of code for real time power line following (so power line recognition and follow). We know that there
41.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
You are right! As we are in Europe we fill like this will be less of an issue than in the US. Nevertheless, we will soon test what happened when we shout our flying HyLighters.
42.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Exactly you are right, for now we are selling in Europe and the regulatory requirements are good.
43.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
It is indeed challenging! But our envelope will be antistatic so it will reduce ignition risks. And we are working at a safe distance from the lines.
44.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Yeah they are very cool! We exchanged a bit and we meet on a regular basis!
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by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Yes! We know them, they are nice people!!
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by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Thank you very much!
47.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Yeah going from one pylone's side to another will be hard. Especially because the components are quite fragile (like insulators).
48.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
That's awesome! In what situation did you had the opportunity to fly a H2 balloon? Do you have any video that you could share about the lighting on fire of the balloon?
49.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Thank you very much for your support! We've made research and we aim to resist to 10 to 11m/s of wind speed. This would allow us to fly in 80% of regions of Europe, 80% of the time!
50.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Actually to create a fire you need the 3 things: Fuel: in our case H2 Heat: in our case hot bullet Oxidizer: in our case there will be only H2 is the enveloppe (O2 won't have the time to enter the envelope along with the bullet). So a
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by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
For now, our development is going well in France. We know that other companies are working in India, US, Finland.
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by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
I'm not sure but I think that this applies to manned airships.
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by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Concerning wind effects, we aim to operate with winds up to 10m/s (we did 8,5m/s last week so it's going well!). If the winds are higher we will wait it out (exactly like other aircrafts do ie drones and helicopter in certain
54.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Thank you!!
55.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Actually, it was exactly the same in France where we operate. It is written that H2 is forbidden but we asked the civil aviation authority and they told us that we just need to ask for the autorization to use this gas when we organize our
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by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Exactly our first inspections are in remote areas so it should be less of a problem. But, even with those small leaks it's not that much of a problem because the airship itself does not empty that fast! Concerning your question on rang
57.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Safety is the most important thing when it comes to aerial industry. We are working with people who are manufacturing their own H2 gas balloons that litterally fly with people in it. Check it out: https://balloonfiesta.com/G
58.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Safety is the most important thing when it comes to aerial industry. We are working with people who are manufacturing their own H2 gas balloons that litterally fly with people in it. Check it out: https://balloonfiesta.com/G
59.
by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
There is a fire hazard indeed! Exactly like with helicopters and their fuel. We need to respect strong process to deal with H2 in safe way. Concerning wind effects, we aim to operate with winds up to 10m/s (we did 8,5m/s last week
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by ThomasLaporte 3y ago
Actually, we're not the only one who thought about it. Since the 2000's some researchers or blimp enthusiasts launched research project like this. We're trying to apply it to a strong pain point in the energy industry. Concer

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