TECH

A drone that can carry you and an innovative hydrogen car

Drone manned
Engineers at the National University of Science and Technology of Russia, in partnership with the company Bartini, presented a first prototype of what should essentially be a drone large enough to carry people.Bartini plans to fund the remainder of what it calls the "personal air taxi" to present the vehicle to the commercial market by 2020.The aerial taxi will operate with three main principles: electric propulsion, moving wings and vertical takeoff and landing.The quadricopter takes off vertically like a helicopter and then accelerates in a horizontal plane by turning its propellers perpendicular to the fuselage so it can continue to fly like an airplane. Landing occurs in reverse order, operating on the same principles."The functions of a quadricopter, a flying wing and a convertiplane were all implemented in our flying electric vehicle," said Vitaly Salatov, the team's technical coordinator.The prototype has a scale of 1: 2. The body is made of polymer materials and carbon fiber, with the steel being restricted to the axles of the engines. These, in turn, are powered by lithium batteries.Weighing 60 kg, the prototype reached 200 km / h, operated by remote control.


New hydrogen technology
Already the Spanish team led by María Pilar Borja and José Mata is concentrating on a hydrogen car.It does not seem like a novelty, especially since there are already line vehicles with this fuel.However, the prototype is evaluating a new process, patented by the team, that allows the production, storage and transport of hydrogen more efficiently using "liquid organic carriers."These hydrogen-bearing organic liquids result from the combination of a silane and an alcohol which, in the presence of a catalyst, allows the generation of hydrogen in a fast and controlled manner. Its main advantage is that the production of hydrogen is carried out at atmospheric pressure and temperature."It's a versatile process from the chemical point of view, because there are many combinations of hydrosilanes and alcohols that can be used and the safety risks derived from gas storage under high pressure are avoided," Mata said.Hydrogen feeds a fuel cell, which produces electricity and feeds the vehicle's electric motors.


Engineers from the National University of Science and Technology of Russia/Bartini/RUVID