Last week, Flowcopter participated in the inaugural Offshore Drone Challenge (ODC) taking place at the National Experimental Test Center of Unmanned Aircraft Systems in Cochstedt, Germany. Sponsored by energy giant EnBW in partnership with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the ODC has been created as an opportunity for leading drone manufacturers to showcase their aircraft in front of major offshore wind operators and leading figures in Transport, EU Drone Regulation and the German Government.
Flowcopter uses a lightweight hydraulic drive train to deliver a completely new class of aircraft.
According to EnBW, “Offshore wind farms play a key role in achieving our climate targets and are designed for a service life of over twenty years. The challenge is that they are often located far from the coast. We rely on innovative technologies to optimize the operation and maintenance of these turbines.”
Flowcopter, represented by Technical Director, Dr. Uwe Stein, presented the FC100 Utility UAV, with it’s 100 kg payload capacity and 200 km range, as a commercially viable heavy lift solution for Offshore Wind that will help significantly reduce O&M costs for operators and increase uptime.
Dr. Stein said, “Offshore wind servicing is just one of the application areas we know our FC100 Utility UAV platform is perfectly suited. The large payload, long endurance and gust resistant capabilities make it ideally suited for the harsh offshore environments that we know current battery electric systems are unable to cope with.”
The ODC follows on from recent successful flight trials of Flowcopter’s FC100 at the UAS Denmark Test Centre in Odense, Denmark in April this year followed by an exhibition at the International Drone Show at Hans Christian Andersen Airport in May.
Flowcopter
www.flowcopter.com
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