ProjectOur team of six UC Berkeley Mechanical Engineers is partnered with leading drone company DJI to create a tethering system that will provide power for unlimited hover to their flagship drone, the M100.
Currently the DJI Matrice 100 drone has up to a 40 minute flight time with a replaceable dual battery configuration. Each battery takes 100 minutes to recharge. Batteries are ineffective and inefficient for long flights. If drones are not limited to this short flight time, they can be used as temporary structures. For example, drones with unlimited flight can fly and supply data service acting as a temporary cell tower without having to build a structure. For these reasons, unlimited hover would allow drones to perform tasks that were previously impossible. Some of the challenges our group faces are how to convert the power and send it through the cable to the drone. DJI has requested that our tether cable allow the drone to hover at least 100 feet in the air and support unlimited tether option with no on board battery. To accomplish the demands of DJI, Team SkyBison will need to apply our mechanical engineering knowledge to build a reeling system for the tether that provides enough tension to prevent the cable from tangling with the drone propellers. Additionally, we will have to leverage our knowledge of electrical engineering to build a power system that can power the drone and provide a 50W margin above peak power use. |
3D Model of DJI Matrice 100 Drone.
Power System Visualization.
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