A maker of hybrid drones has achieved what it claims is a milestone in flight time with a journey that lasted 10 hours and 14 minutes.
Quaternium’s experimental version of the Hybrix fuel-electric multi-rotor drone began its flight at 8:20 a.m. and landed at 5:34 p.m. using a full tank of 16 liters of fuel. Quaternium partnered with Löweheiser, a maker of fuel injection systems for unmanned aircrafts.
Multi-rotor drones offer a boost to aerial applications, but their limited endurance makes them useless for many commercial missions. Hybrix overcomes this limitation with increased flight time to make multi-rotor drones applicable for aerial missions such as surveillance or first response.
The EFI fuel injection system from Löweheiser allows the Hybrix to have enhanced endurance while in flight. The small fuel injection system integrated into the aircraft allows the drone to stay in flight longer without losing any performance since its weight is almost the same as the carburetor version.
During the 10-hour mission, Löweheiser monitored the engine’s parameters, gathering information about the engine’s performance.
