Quaternium achieves record flight with hybrid drone

For this quest, Quaternium partnered with manufacturer Löweheiser, a company that has designed the smallest fuel injection in the market, specifically optimized for unmanned aircrafts.

The unprecedented flight started at 08:20 hrs in the morning with an experimental version of the HYBRiX drone and a full tank of 16 liters. The drone landed at 18:34 hrs after 10 hours and 14 minutes in the air.

Several enhancements were made on HYBRiX to achieve this milestone, but the most exciting was partnering with EFI company Löweheiser, as Alicia Fuentes, CEO at Quaternium, explained: “We are convinced that the co-operation with Löweheiser is a unique opportunity to develop new capabilities and meet our ambitious goals for 2021. This collaboration is going great and we are confident that it is going to be beneficial for both sides.”

HYBRiX technology overcomes the primary limitation of multirotor drones, which is limited flight time. Thanks to this huge advantage in flight time, HYBRiX is an ideal aircraft for aerial missions such as surveillance or first response.

When the EFI from Löweheiser is added to the equation, the flight time of this hybrid drone is enhanced, and its reliability significantly increased, being able to easily adapt to any variation on the climatic conditions. Thanks to the small size of the fuel injection, it was possible to integrate it on the aircraft specifically built for the record without losing any performance, since its weight is almost the same as the carburator version.

During the 10-hour mission, the Löweheiser team monitored the engine parameters at all times, providing HYBRiX operators essential data to optimize the engine performance, making this new world record possible.