Modovolo Lift: Modular drone with technical finesse and very long flight time
Drones should stay in the air for as long as possible on a single charge. Modovolo has found a new approach to this with a bicycle rim design.
The Modovolo Lift in flight.
(Image: Modovolo (Screenshot))
The US drone start-up Modovolo has developed the "Modovolo Lift" drone, which uses various technical features such as high motor speed with slow-running large rotor blades, low weight and a modular design to increase flight time. However, the drone is intended exclusively for professional use. The price is lower than that of similar drones from other manufacturers.
The concept of the Modovolo drone is relatively simple: the rotor housings, which are designed in the shape of a bicycle rim, can be arranged as desired on a filigree base body. Depending on the intended use, various configurations are possible, for example as a quad, hexa or octocopter.
Rotor housing in the shape of a bicycle rim
The rotor housings, in which the motors are centrally suspended, are similar in design to a bicycle rim. This design is extremely light and very stable, explains Modovolo. The empty weight of the drone has been reduced to just over 1.1 kg. The flight weight including batteries is just under 3.5 kg in a quadcopter configuration. For comparison: a DJI Matrice 300, which plays in the same league, weighs 6.1 kg.
However, the rotor housing design has another advantage in addition to its low weight. In combination with the high-speed motors and the low speed of the large rotors, it acts like a channeling fan, similar to a jet engine. This achieves a high level of efficiency. Modovolo has adapted the rotors accordingly. The company promises that they offer the highest thrust of all drones on the market and work efficiently at the same time.
Tests of the Modovolo Lift show that the concept obviously works. Flight times of up to two hours at a time are possible on a single battery charge, as the company demonstrates in a video.
Universally applicable
The basic construction of the drone is designed to be "stiff, strong and light, without exotic materials". This has also made it possible to significantly reduce manufacturing costs. In principle, the drone can be configured for any conceivable application, for example for military use, in agriculture and the construction industry, in photogrammetry and for lidar applications. To this end, Modovolo is developing a universal utility pod that can accommodate any payload in order to make the drone suitable for as many applications as possible.
Modovolo is currently looking for test pilots to fly the drone under fixed test protocols and provide feedback to the company. The feedback will be incorporated into further improvements to the drone before it is launched on the market.
The price is then expected to be around 6000 US dollars. This is cheaper than a comparable DJI Matrice 300 RTK, which costs more than 10,000 dollars and offers a maximum flight time of around 55 minutes.
(olb)