The Silent Ventus is a silent prototype drone with an ion-powered engine. This process of motorization without mechanical parts has been used for a long time for certain space vehicles, but remains very experimental for aircraft such as planes or drones. If it manages to take off vertically, for the moment, it is still far from the noise level.
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After’Ion Drive of MIT, an airplane propelled by an electro-aerodynamic device, here is the version drone vertical takeoff. from the company Undefined Technologies based in Florida in the United States, and called Silent Ventus for the moment, the drone looks like a kind of flying rack. But the company has just presented its future design, namely a body placed on this structure.
This flying palette has two large superimposed grids composed ofelectrodes to high tension. They are in opposition so that theair be ionized and accelerated downward to generate thrust. Unlike the plane, it takes much more thrust, and therefore moreenergyto make take off and maintain in the air this drone. It has already made two test flights. The first lasted 25 seconds and, during the second, the aircraft remained in the air for more than two and a half minutes.
During this experimental flight, the high-pitched whistle of the electro-aerodynamic propulsion system is heard. © Undefined Technologies
Lots of noise for a quiet drone
In both cases, the drone performed its flights indoors, so without wind. The company also touts its technology called Air Tantrum. A technology that will make the device extremely quiet according to the firm, hence the name Silent Ventus. Because it is not because there is no engine that an ion propulsion does not make noise, far from it. During its first flight, the drone generated a high-pitched whistle of about 90 decibels.
Undefined Technologies intends to reduce the volume sound at 70 decibels. A level that remains about as high as that of a drone quadcopter ultimately semi-professional. Nevertheless, for the moment, despite its imposing size, this drone is extremely light and it remains difficult to know if it will one day be able to carry a payload to compete with multirotor drones.
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