In recent years, with the rapid development of the UAV industry, A
number of well-known enterprises such as Dji and Corbett Aviation
emerged on the market and causes continued focus from capital and
industry giants. However, the short flight time (general consumer drones
only 20 minutes or so) still limit the application and development of
the UAV. How to solve the problem of battery with short flight time?
What role can IC products play in this area?
Flight time is less than 45 minutes but Charging over 1 hour
With the development of science and technology in recent years the
application of UAV has expand from military to civilian areas, and it
becomes more and more popular. According to the forecasts from research
firm BI Intelligence, the next 10 years UAV will account for the UAV
market share of 12%, valued at $ 98 billion. The current market size is
30 billion RMB in the UAV market. with the improvement of our airspace
and UAV open regulatory policy, the next 10 years China's civilian UAV
growth is expected to exceed 30%.
However, at the same time in the fast start of UAV market , the
limited flight time and other constraints have gradually become
prominent. Flight time has been a limit in the development of UAV
technology. Currently, the
UAV battery
on market ofthen use lithium battery as the main driving force, and
endurance is typically between 20-30 minutes. This is a major short
board of the development of UAV, greatly limiting the overall potential
of the UAV industry.
According to the reporter's investigation, the UAV on market
including Dji and multi-rotor mostly use lithium batteries as an energy
source currently. Because lithium batteries with mature technology are
easy to purchase. But individual differences, incomplete balanced charge
and discharge, and long charging time for high power battery make it
more cumbersome to use. The biggest problem is flight time. Lithium
battery with the weight of 300 grams theoretically allow UAV with 500
grams weight to flight 17 minutes, even taking into account the
technical differences, as well as the body weight and other factors, the
flight time of vast majority of UAVs are all within 45 minutes. But the
charging time is more than one hour.
Therefore, it is a challenge for all UAV manufacturers must face:
how to enhance UAV endurance and allowed them to meet consumer or even
industrial market demand.
Power management chip technology plays a important role of UAVs on market
The biggest problem we are facing is the lithium battery of UAVs with
short flight time. It is no breakthrough in the material of lithium
battery.In that case, there are two ways to solve the problem: some
manufacturers began to try new replacement materials for lithium battery
; Adopting technology of power management chip to achieve effective
energy management. Prolong flight time of battery to the utmost extent
and charge battery fast.
HUS company in Singapore developed the first multiaxial UAV HYCOPTER
using hydrogen fuel cell in May 2015. It can fly continuously for four
hours with no load, even under full load of 1 kg can still support 150
minutes. Currently, Dji, Corbett aviation and other manufacturers are
also making use of hydrogen fuel cells attempt.
However, as the most common materials, lithium battery with solid
power, mature technology, and the use of safety are still the most
preferred electricity choice for consumer drones. For example, in
September 2015, a leader in the field of electric vehicles, Tesla
publicly announced a specific application of aerial UAV prototype. With
its strength in battery and power management technology, a UAV from
Tesla equipped
10000mAh battery. It can fly 60 minutes a single charge, and the charging time is only about 20 minutes.
In this case, the superior power management chip technology has
become one of the key factors to affect the success or failure of the
UAV market.
The key point is to find a balance charge
So how the current power management chip technology develop in the
UAV market? According to reports, battery management chip is a kind of
chip to perform condition monitoring, security management and charge
management of battery of electronic device. It can control the voltage
of charge current , promise the security of battery, and predict
accurately on remaining capacity of battery. IC performance of battery
management has a great impact on the operation and use of electronic
security equipment
Power management chip has very broad applications, and it is widely
used in smart phones, laptops, charging treasure, tablet PCs, smart
wearable devices and other products. At the same time, as the quantity
of electronic products increases using the power management chip to
achieve fast charging has been in the leading place on market.
UAV is the most promising market to achieve fast charging. According
to reports, from power management chip, there are similar solutions
between smart phones and UAVs. However, charging the phone is subjected
to the restriction of USB interface and battery. USB interface typically
supplies at 5V . Currently, the highest voltage of mobile phone battery
is generally 4.2V, and the high voltage of fast charge eventually drop
itself to a voltage the phone battery can withstand and then increase
the current to achieve fast charge. The Principle of UAV fast charge,
although the same with mobile phone, need to increase their voltage or
current, but the difference is, the battery may be made up of several
lithium cells (such as three cells 3 * 4 = 12V, that is, to charge the
battery at 12V). Because the realization of the tandem cell, we need to
consider the balance charging problem to prevent the accidents caused by
charge imbalance.
As for the future technological development, on one hand, fast charge
technology of the mobile phone is trying to find a high voltage (such
as 12V) for mobile phone into a high current. On the other, attention
need to be paid to the phone adapter and communication protocols to
prevent high voltage burning the phone . There are no restrictions in
UAVs, and it is the fastest as long as each cell can withstand the
maximum voltage and current. Therefore, there is great room for the
development of the technology of UAV fast charge in the future.
Source:
http://www.genstattu.com/blog/battery-life-regarded-as-a-factor-to-influence-the-wind-direction-of-uav/
