Freeze and fall: why it is difficult to run drones in winter and how to solve problems
Lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries in the cold lose their capacity due to impaired normal chemical processes. Therefore, in winter, the equipment is at least 30% faster. At a temperature of -15 degrees, the engines are difficult, and a lot of charge is spent on warming. If the battery is completely discharged and left overnight in a cold environment, it is no longer suitable. In conditions of high humidity and low temperature there is a glacier, very dangerous for aircraft.
In the enabled state, the inner nodes of the drone are heated and the moisture, which is in the air, condenses inside the mechanism. After stopping and growing, it immediately turns into ice and causes problems. Crystallizing, ice can simply break sensitive electronics and fragile parts. An important indicator is the weight of the load that the drones withstand, and the developers often try to squeeze the maximum out of them.
As a result, each gram is weighing in gold, and the ice on the wings or housing increases weight and can potentially lead to UAV fall. In contrast, the reverse process also threatens the destruction of drones. When the device is brought from the cold into a warm room, small droplets of water on the surface can condensed, penetrate the body and damage the electronic blocks. Due to the low temperature, the plastic components become brittle and can break with the slightest contact.
And the worse the quality of the materials, the higher the likelihood of such a result. When the temperature and humidity of the working environment changes, the camera lens can fog, which significantly impairs the quality of its operation. The cold environment accelerates the aging of the dumping damper, as well as the curing of the depreciation, which can lead to shaking the image.
First of all, batteries suffer, so they should be kept warm to depart so that the frost starts to affect the container as later. You can use thermal gums, warm backpacks, shocks that keep the temperature. If not, you can put batteries in your pocket as close as possible to the body or put under a jacket, keep near the stove. Immediately before departing, the battery can be additionally heated under the frontal glass of the car, heater or under the armpit.
It is worth making sure that it is fully charged and gives the desired voltage. It is recommended that the engine work for about a minute to warm it up and ensure the normal operation of different sensors, as well as scatter a couple on camera lenses. If in the summer pilots are recommended to plant a drone at a charge level of 20%, then in winter - already by 40%. In the cold season, you need to have several batteries per drone and numbers them to make it easier to track charged and discharged.
At -15 ℃ may not produce motors, the time and part of the battery charge will be spent on self -heating. Of course, it is better to avoid flights in extreme conditions, such as thunderstorms and snowstorms, but the combat conditions and tasks are different. In any case, the pilots should be monitored for weather forecasts and planning missions, respectively. To save charge, it is necessary to fly in the winter smoothly and choosing a certain height.
Long high speed at maximum draft can lead to a sudden drop in the battery voltage. After landing, any drone should be inspected and wiped with snow, ice or moisture and then pack. Do not remove UAVs or their components immediately after moving from frost to a warm room. It is still If it appears, it is better to wipe dry as soon as possible. In some homemade copters, the battery is attached outside the body and is blown not only by the wind, but also by propellers.
It can be protected by covering with extruded foam or other light insulation materials. Here you need to be careful not to overload the drone and not to disrupt its aerodynamic properties. Strong cold and snow can lead to flight management errors. Snow or water can get inside the drone, which will lead to freezing.
In addition, the reflective capacity of snow and sharp temperature changes can affect the environment data collected by these sensors, which can also affect the normal operation of the flight control system. It is not necessary to run the device during snowfall. To prevent this from happening, you need to isolate vulnerable components, especially electronics.
To protect against moisture, the pilots often wrap the body with a conventional food film, because it is lightweight, tight and stretches well. Regulators can be covered with special waterproof varnish. For better protection against cold, it is also recommended to paste the ventilation holes with adhesive tape, because moisture can get inside them. Moisture on the battery connector or the drone can be avoided by wrapping the connection with several skeins of insulating tape.
When snow, ice or drops of water gets into the lower sensors, the drone falsely decides that already on the ground and independently switches off the engines for safety. This can even happen in the air. In general, the planes suffer from the same problems, but usually have quite powerful engines that are heated and partially protect the components from freezing. In addition, the wings help to lift much more weight, which allows you to insulate the body.
A significant problem for aircraft is the wind, which is intensified in the winter season, its gusts can simply throw the device in the air, and it will no longer be able to stabilize. In this case, the greater the weight of the UAV, the more stable it is. One of the elements of unmanned aircraft, sensitive to low temperatures is a tube of pyito. It is designed to measure static and dynamic air pressures, these indicators are used by navigation equipment to determine relative velocity and height.