GenSmart Range Extender- the next evolutionary step for quad copters
If you own a quad-copter, you know it’s essential to find a balance between payload weight and batteries in order to maximize your flight time. Up until now, flight time was restricted by current battery technology.
Chemical fuel has always been significantly more energy dense than battery technology. For every gram of chemical fuel, you can get 2 to 10 times more energy than you can per gram of battery. GenSmart is the first to ever create a hybrid approach to solving the current limitation of flight time.
Gensmart makes the world’s lightest generator, and we have applied that technology and developed a range extender for the quad-copter market. GenSmart burns chemical fuel in flight to run our generator, charge batteries, or to provide power during flight. The energy density of our generator with fuel is anywhere from 2 to 4 times that of current battery technology. With our range extender, you can easily exceed flight times of 1hr with payload in excess 1 to 2 Kg. You can also start and stop the engine mid-flight, so if you need to minimize noise during your flight, you can.
Using chemical fuel to power your quad-copter also eliminates downtime. You can refuel and be back in the air within minutes, whereas charging batteries can take hours.
GenSmart - portable power made easy
We all take power for granted; we flip a switch and the light turns on. We all assume it will be there until it isn't. Anyone who has ever experienced a hurricane, blizzard or other disaster and lost power, quickly understands the need for a generator. Charge your phone or computer, run lights or a TV and even a refrigerator. All from a 12lb generator called GenSmart 1000.
If you currently have a generator, you know that a 1500 watt model weighs about 50 lbs or more. If there existed a unit that only weighed 12lbs and still provided the same power then the added portability would make it more useful to more people and in more situations. When we started this project, the goal was to make a generator for millennials. You see, existing generators are made by engine companies. Honda, Yamaha, Briggs & Stratton all started and still make engines as their primary business. On the other hand, we are electrical engineers (computer guys) and we designed a generator from the ground up based on today's needs (charge your phone/tablet, small & portable, simple & easy to use, indoor power, built-in battery, eco-friendly...). It's a generator that anyone can use. So we felt the units had to be very light and portable. They had to be small so they could be stored and used in apartments and confined spaces. Ideally, we wanted a generator someone could put on a windowsill, with the exhaust facing out the window. Last of all, they needed to be very simple to use with auto start/stop - no pull cords - just turn on a switch, and it all works.
Lighter and smaller is better
Currently, portable generators are heavy, they need the engine to be running to produce power and they require you use the pull cord and choke to start the engine. Our system is super light, fully automatic and can provide power even with the engine off. Think a super lightweight UPS (uninterruptible power supply) with an automatic engine to charge the battery. Given this new size and functionality, the market becomes wide open to all sorts of possibilities. Someone could easily put one in a backpack and climb the highest mountain or go into the deepest jungle. We see great Humanitarian possibilities - if we meet our stretch goal of $150,000 we would like to donate five units to “Doctors without Borders” and other Humanitarian causes.
Smart/Hybrid is what you really want
Right now generators are either on, and producing power, or off. Our goal is to team-up batteries with a generator, creating a Hybrid model. Today, generators over-produce power - and that power is wasted. With our Hybrid model, the power is never wasted and the generator becomes truly smart.
We monitor the power demands of whatever is plugged-in and the state of the batteries to determine when we need to start the engine to produce power. If a small load is connected, we will defer turning on the engine until the battery has been discharged to about 30% capacity. So if you have small power requirements, like charging a phone or tablet, you would be able to plug in the device without the engine starting. We will monitor the consumption and minimize run time to save fuel and power.
Furthermore, with our Hybrid model, we produce short power boosts that far exceed the engine's capabilities making our generator not only smaller and lighter but also more powerful, capable of powering tools and appliances that could not be used with conventional portable generators.
Why alcohol?
Portable generators are normally fueled by gasoline. The problem with gasoline is that it is very flammable and has a very strong odor. For those reasons, we chose a methanol based fuel. Alcohol fuels are renewable, less flammable and virtually odor free making them ideal for storage in your apartment, home or business. GenSmart makes the only urban/apartment friendly generator.
