Silent Delivery Drones With Ion Drives

Imagine drones running on ion-wind created by an electromagnetic field’s effect on air molecules. If this technology succeeds it could change how small deliveries are being delivered forever.

Image by S. Hermann & F. Richter from Pixabay

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Let’s face it. Drones tend to be quite loud making them quite impractical for delivery purposes. But now, a start-up company Undefined Technologies is developing a new technology that they nicknamed Air Tantrum that should provide drones with ion-propulsion with so far unprecedented thrust. If they get it right then we should expect relatively silent drones without any moving components – almost like the magical flying carpets.

Current flying machines usually get thrust through moving air or by burning fuel. Most drones have drives that have rotors that move the air and provide thrust in the opposite direction. On the other hand, ion-drives are purely electromagnetic.

Ion drives need a high voltage electric field that ionizes molecular nitrogen and oxygen in the air. These simple molecules lose electrons during the process and thus get a positive electric charge. These positively charged molecules move towards a negatively charged electrode and with their movement, they also carry other molecules in the air creating ion-wind.

We have been trying to use this principle for dozens of years now. But mostly only for space. But lately, we are starting to think about using it in the atmosphere as well. One of the companies working on this is Undefined Technologies. They are working on a relatively large ion-drive drone that looks like a square 1.2 meters by 1.2 meters in size. It should be only 70 dB loud, and the other noises should easily drown that in a city.

Obviously, these problems will come with their own issues. First, because of their size they need to be quite light and this fragile. Even if made from durable materials such as carbon fibers. Another problem is that regular wind will likely have a large effect on their path. And the ion-drive itself will most likely not be able to fully compensate for the effects of regular wind. So, it will be much harder to be stable compared to traditional drones.

Sources:

• https://newatlas.com/drones/ion-propelled-drone-undefined-technologies/

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