Flowcopter Hydraulic Drone to Enable Heavy-Lift 500-Mile Flights

Flowcopter’s hydraulic drone uses pumps and gas engines to provide a range of hundreds of miles, far outreaching the range of the best electric drones. The energy density of gasoline is coupled with hydraulically powered rotors. Each hydraulic motor produces up to 129 horsepower, but weighs less than 12 pounds. The engineering challenge has been that gas-powered engines don’t offer the precise control of electric systems, which can precisely adjust the rotational speed of each rotor of a multicopter to balance the payload during flight and counteract turbulence. Flowcopyter’s engineers address this by coupling a light aircraft engine with digitally controlled hydraulic pumps. Images courtesy of Flowcopter. Read more.