Recently, the DJI drone launched an extreme challenge on Mount Everest, breaking through the height limit of 6,000 meters and successfully flying over Mount Everest, the top of the world. According to online data, the altitude of the DJI drone flight reached an astonishing 9232.68 meters, which is more than 300 meters above sea level of Mount Everest.
For people who don't know about drone technology, such an achievement may not be much. However, for the drone industry, this is undoubtedly a feat that can go down in the world record. Europe and the United States and other countries cried greedily after seeing it, worthy of DJI, using drones to measure every inch of the motherland's mountains and rivers.
How hard is it for a drone to cross Mount Everest?
The cold climate environment is a huge test for the battery, the minimum temperature on the summit of Mount Everest is below zero all year round, even in summer, and the winter is even more anti-human, because of the strong northwest cold snap control, the minimum temperature can reach minus 60 °C.
At this temperature, the lithium battery must not be able to stand it, in a low temperature environment, the viscosity of the electrolyte rises, resulting in a decrease in ion conduction velocity, a decrease in the conductivity of the battery, and a steep increase in resistance without warning. In addition, the anode of the battery is also easy to precipitate lithium metal, and reacts with the electrolyte, and the product deposition will thicken the thickness of the solid-state electrolyte interface, which will increase the internal resistance of the battery.
What happens to lithium batteries at minus 60 degrees Celsius on Mount Everest? Lithium crystal branches may be formed, which will directly lead to irreversible damage to the battery, and the battery cell will be completely scrapped once it is used.
Even without the use of lithium batteries, it is difficult to use the internal combustion engine of aviation kerosene as a power source.
The higher the altitude, the thinner the air, and most drones use rotors, which generate a downward airflow to lift the body into the air when turning, so the thinner the air, the less lift. At the same speed, the drone on Everest may not be able to fly.
There are also big problems with the use of internal combustion engines, thin air means less oxygen, and the engine will suffer from altitude sickness like people, and the power will be greatly reduced, so you can only use turbocharging. But this is also limited, the most typical example is that the 99A main battle tank cannot go to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, only the Type 15 light tank can.
You think that's the end of it? The harshness of the plateau environment is far more than that, there are also complex air currents, which are fatal for aircraft.
During World War II, there was a famous "Hump Route", which was to cross the Himalayas from India to transport war materials to China. This route was called the "death route" by the Allies because more than 600 planes were fell, and more than 2,000 pilots and officers died. There are too many strong convective weather, mainly because the mountains are too high, which has an impact on the atmosphere, and no matter how good the turbulent plane is, it will be uncontrollable.
Even if the DJI drone uses a classic quadrotor, the stability is relatively good, and it is not so easy to control when encountering complex air currents. The fact that it was able to successfully fly over Mount Everest this time is enough to prove that the flight control of DJI drones is very good.
In addition, heavy fog is often found on the Himalayas. This is very easy to understand, water vapor condenses to form fog, this fog has a great impact on the transmission of remote control signals, coupled with the complex geomagnetic environment on the mountain range, the communication between the UAV and the control station is easy to be interfered with.
Why do you have to let the drone fly over Mount Everest, and what are the benefits of doing so?
If DJI takes advantage of this experiment to develop a high-altitude drone, it will definitely sell out, and it can be used in geological surveys, material transportation, field investigations, and field rescues.
In recent days, the foreign network has been swiped by Chinese drones to transport building materials over long distances, and the drones in the video are also DJI, and the foreigner news is lagging behind, this is the video sent by DJI applications in November last year, this drone is DJI Flycart30, it turns out that it takes 4-7 hours to carry 30 kg of materials manually, and it only takes 10 minutes to lift it to the top of the mountain. With it, 3 electricians can do what used to take 20 people a month to do in a week.
Such drones are subject to environmental testing during development, and DJI's drone climbing over Mount Everest is not just a challenge.
Why is China's UAV advantage so obvious? Can't Europe and the United States do it?
In fact, they can do it, the key is that the production cost is too high. We have a drone for 5,999 yuan, and they may sell it for tens of thousands of dollars. See, Chen Ping's inequality has been established again.
China has a complete industrial cluster, Europe and the United States do not, their industry is seriously hollowed out, high-end talents in science and engineering have gone to study finance, and the cost of engineering personnel is not the same. The drone is not a high-end luxury, it is also very sensitive to price, the same quality, we sell at a low price, there are more orders, and in the end it is a winner-takes-all.
At present, China's UAV market accounts for 70% of the world's market, and a little higher is a monopoly. In this track, we belong to Europe and the United States have been blocked, and at present, no country in the world can shake the international status of China's UAVs.
Unlike many countries that regard drones as weapons of war, the mainland takes the path of common development of military and civilians, and drones are efficient production tools when they are used well.