Hybrid power. Genset + Batt, developed for drones

I know we’re here for the gas-motor free aspect of the ppg, but I think it’s worth looking into for the efficiency.

There’s statements about that a hybrid system can run a drone 20x longer than lithium. They’re just the size we’d be looking for! So instead of stocking up on heavy batteries for sustained flight. Or an inefficient larger motor, perhaps this is an option for longer flight.

I know these are about half the output needed, but it’s all easily scaleable and as stated by the Tech Ingredients guy, it wouldn’t be much more in weight.

https://www.foxtechfpv.com/foxtech-nova-2000-generator.html

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I was actually looking into these the other night. There are a bunch of reasons to go ePPG, or at least electric propulsion - things like no-counter torque, fast response, portability, etc. Something like this might be really interesting for extended duration flying.

I’m super interested in using something like this at some point. The energy density of fuel is really hard to beat :slight_smile: With the OpenPPG rig, you could actually just have this mount and switch between battery powered or battery/generator/gas powered. Could be amazing!

Edit: I actually know some guys that make a 2000W (max 4000W) hybrid drone power system - only weighs 2.6 kg! I’ll investigate this with them, but it could be an amazing way to extend flight, while keeping all the benefits of ePPG. Will keep you posted!

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Wow that’s a couple bucks.
I was toying with the idea of slapping on a pair of 10-40cc engines to co-drive 2 of the props and have the electric motors act as a break to supply electric power during level flight or work in assist with a more aggressive prop to just get even more power on demand for climbing.

We will see if it makes any sense once everything is in hand…

Yeah, that’s the price for the whole copter platform. The basic gas motor plus electric motor(gen) would be much cheaper, especially if we can find a good way to do it ourselves.

GFrom what I understand from a reply Paul gave, about 4000W is a minimum for level flight. 100A@42V

But double that 2.6kg genset and we’d have our whole electric demand down!

Does anyone know of any good off the shelf ESC/Battery Charger all in one setups that work at the higher RPM? We could rig something together but I’m not an electrical engineer… Just a tinkerer. The last thing I would want is an overcharged battery on my back next to fuel :slight_smile:

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