Doosan drone wins honours for innovation, sustainability

New drone systems from Doosan Mobility Innovation (DMI) have won honours in two categories in the CES 2020 Innovation Awards announced during the CES 2020 Exhibition, the world’s largest electronics trade show, held in Las Vegas, US, from 7-10 January 2020.

Doosan’s hydrogen fuel cell drones are composed of a powerpack, a miniaturised, lightweight fuel cell system that maximises mobility by utilising PEMFC (proton-exchange membrane fuel cells) technology, and drone frames that use the powerpack as their main power source.

The specific model name of the powerpack shown at CES is DP30 and the drone frame is DS30.

Doosan’s Long Endurance Fuel Cell Drone (DS30 with DP30) won a Best of Innovation Award in the Drones & Unmanned Systems Category. The DP30 Mobile Fuel Cell Powerpack also won an Honoree Award in the Sustainability, Eco-Design & Smart Energy Category.

The company’s hydrogen fuel cell drone significantly expands the use of drones by extending the flight time beyond that of battery-type drones, which can fly for only 20 to 30 minutes, to more than two hours.

At the Samoter international fair in Italy in March 2020, as part of a display of the company’s Smart Solutions portfolio under the theme of ‘Powered by Innovation’, Doosan Infracore Europe will be exhibiting the new fuel cell drones from DMI for monitoring machine performance and wider operation efficiency on construction, mine and quarry sites.

With the capability of flying up to two hours on one charge, these long-endurance fuel-cell powered drones can cover even large sites in a single flight, versus using multiple batteries and flight locations. Using the drones can also improve the safety of workers and prevent accidents by using aerial scanning rather than manual materials climbing.

Doosan will also be using Samoter to promote the company’s Concept-X vision, which covers everything from automated job site management using drone and ICT techology to fully automated machine control.