In recent years, the development of the drone industry has been extremely rapid. A number of well-known enterprises such as Dajiang and Corbett Airlines have appeared in the market, and they have attracted the attention of capital and various industry giants. However, problems such as short battery life (the average consumer drone is only about 20 minutes) still limits the application and development of drones. How to solve the battery life problem? What role can IC products play in this respect? 17 minutes of battery life constraints With the development of science and technology, in recent years, drones have expanded from the military field to the civilian sector, and have gradually been popular in the market. According to research firm BI Intelligence, civilian drones will account for 12% of the total drone market in the next 10 years, valued at $98 billion. At present, the size of China's drone market is about 3 billion yuan. With the opening of China's low-altitude airspace and the improvement of drone control policies, the growth rate of our national drones is expected to exceed 30% in the next 10 years. However, while the drone market is rapidly starting up, constraints such as limited endurance are also emerging. Liu Rui, a partner of Xiaofang Technology, who pioneered the development of "unmanned aircraft", told reporters that battery life has always been a bottleneck limiting the development of drone technology. At present, the drones on the market mainly use lithium batteries as the main power, and the endurance is generally between 20 minutes and 30 minutes. This is a major shortcoming in the development of drones, which greatly limits the overall development potential of the drone industry. According to the reporter's investigation, most of the multi-rotor UAVs on the market, including the DJI UAV, use lithium batteries as energy. Because lithium battery procurement is convenient and the process is mature, due to individual differences, the battery core cannot achieve 100% balanced charging and discharging, and the charging time of the high-power battery is relatively long, which is troublesome to use. The most troublesome thing is its battery life. The 300-gram lithium battery can theoretically only fly a 500-gram drone for 17 minutes. Even considering the technical differences and the weight of the body, the life time of most products. All within 45 minutes. The charging time is more than one hour. Therefore, how to improve the life of the drone to meet the needs of the consumer and industrial markets has become a challenge that all drone manufacturers must face. Power management technology has a huge role How to solve the main problem of limited drone battery life? In this regard, Tao Hongzhong, general manager of Jiangsu Hongyun, said that there are two ways to solve the power problem of drones without breakthroughs in lithium materials: some manufacturers have begun to try to replace lithium batteries with new battery materials; The power management chip realizes effective power management, maximizes the endurance and realizes fast charging, and is also one of the solutions to the problem. In May 2015, Singapore HUS Company developed the first multi-axis UWH HYCOPTER with hydrogen fuel cells, which can fly for 4 hours under no-load conditions, and can support 150 minutes even under 1 kg full load. At present, manufacturers such as DJI and Corbett are also experimenting with hydrogen fuel cells. However, lithium batteries, as the most common battery material, are still the most preferred power choice for consumer-grade drones because of their solid power supply, mature technology and safe use. For example, in September 2015, Tesla, the leader in electric vehicles, publicly released a prototype of a drone specifically for aerial photography applications. With its strength in battery and power management technology, Tesla has equipped a 10000mAh battery on this drone, which lasts for 60 minutes on a single charge, and the charging time is only about 20 minutes. In this case, superior power management chip technology has become one of the key factors affecting the success or failure of the drone market. Seeking balance charging is the key point So, what is the current development of power management chip technology in the drone market? According to the introduction of Microelectronics, the battery management chip is a chip that monitors the status, charge management and security protection of the battery of the electronic device. It can perform charging current voltage control, battery safety and accurate battery remaining capacity prediction. . The performance of battery management ICs has a great impact on the operation and safety of electronic devices. Wang Qiaoyu, technical product marketing manager of IPD/AMS market and application department of STMicroelectronics, also said that the application of power management chip has been very broad, and it is widely used in products such as smart phones, notebook computers, charging treasures, tablet computers and smart wearable devices. Power management chip. At the same time, with the gradual increase in the power consumption of electronic products, the rapid charging through the power management chip has become the dominant in the current market. Currently, smartphones are still the largest market for fast charging applications. Qualcomm, MediaTek, TI, Apple, and OPPO are all leading their own standard fast charging solutions. In 2016, Qualcomm and MediaTek's smart phone chip platform continued to upgrade. Apple also decided to increase the wattage of new mobile phone power supply from 15W to 20W. It is hoped that the charging time will be shortened by higher current to achieve fast charging effect. The drone is the latest and most promising application market for fast charging technology. According to Tao Jianzhong, from the perspective of power management chips, the solutions for smartphones and drones are similar. However, the charging of the mobile phone is subject to the limitation of the USB interface and the battery, and the USB interface is generally powered by 5V. At present, the maximum cell phone battery is 4.2V, and the high voltage of the fast charge eventually falls to the voltage that the mobile phone battery can withstand, and the fast charge is achieved by increasing the current. The principle of fast charging of drones is the same as that of mobile phones. It is also necessary to increase the voltage or increase the current. The difference is that the battery of the drone may be a series of lithium batteries in series (such as three batteries 3 & TImes; 4 = 12V, that is, 12V) Charging), because the battery is connected in series, it is necessary to consider the problem of balanced charging, in order to prevent accidents caused by charging imbalance. As for the future technological development, mobile fast charging technology tries to find a way to provide high voltage (such as 12V) for the mobile phone to convert into high current. On the other hand, pay attention to the communication protocol between the mobile phone and the adapter to prevent the high voltage from burning the mobile phone. . There is no such limitation in drones, as long as the maximum voltage and current that can be supplied to each battery is the fastest. Therefore, there is still much room for development in the future of UAV fast charging technology. 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