Small drones have long jumped out of the limitations of the professional field, not only as a tool for professional players, but also as a favorite of many amateurs, and their application scenarios have become more and more extensive, covering a wide range of fields, such as aerial photography, agricultural plant protection, and so on. Currently, most drones use brushless motors as their power source, so why has it become the mainstream power choice for drones?
Although all types of motors can provide a certain amount of power, UAVs need to overcome their own weight to fly, and therefore require a very high thrust-to-weight ratio. If a conventional motor is used, its own weight will significantly offset the power output, making it difficult to carry additional equipment such as a camera, even if it can lift off. Brushless motors, on the other hand, can output strong power under the premise of smaller volume and lighter weight, and with higher torque, the model drone has sufficient margin to carry equipment such as photography equipment.
In addition, the flight and control of the model drone requires strict stability, and its built-in flight control chip needs to sense the data in real time through sensors, and accurately adjust the power of each motor to maintain balance. If the motors produce significant vibration during operation, it will bring great pressure to the flight control system, and is more likely to fail when encountering unstable factors such as airflow. Brushless motors have significantly lower vibration and are more controllable, not only can they work with the flight controller to achieve autonomous and stable control, but also can support flexible remote control - this hardware is the basis for the drones' ability to quickly traverse all kinds of obstacles in today's racing events where model drones are the protagonists.
It is by virtue of the two core advantages of high thrust-to-weight ratio and high stability that brushless motors have become the mainstream power for model air drones. In some lightweight UAV products, hollow cup motors (ironless core design) have also been widely used due to their lighter weight, lower iron loss, and greater durability. However, the expansion of UAV application scenarios and the upgrading of functional requirements have also put forward higher requirements for motor performance.
With the continuous iteration of UAV technology, motor technology is also continuing to revolutionize. In the future, both the performance optimization of brushless motors and the technological breakthroughs of hollow cup motors will revolve around the improvement of drone endurance, handling precision and other directions, bringing more possibilities to the drone industry. Meanwhile, in order to adapt to different application scenarios, motor manufacturers are also exploring new materials and structural designs, such as adopting new magnetic materials to improve motor efficiency and optimizing the heat dissipation structure to ensure stable operation for a long period of time, which are innovations that will further promote the development of UAV power systems. Moreover, with the integration of AI and IoT technologies, the collaboration between the motor and the UAV control system will be smarter, and through algorithm optimization, the motor power output will be accurately matched with the UAV's mission requirements, so that the UAV can operate efficiently and stably even in complex environments. In addition, the adaptation of motors and UAVs also needs to consider the issue of energy consumption. The future development of motor technology may reduce the energy loss during motor operation by improving the winding design and optimizing the electromagnetic scheme, thus extending the endurance time of the UAV and allowing it to play a role in more complex and long-duration tasks. In addition, as UAV application scenarios expand into complex environments such as high altitude and extreme climates, the weather resistance and adaptability of motors have also become a focus of research and development. Manufacturers are committed to developing high-temperature resistant, low-temperature resistant, and moisture corrosion resistant motor products to ensure that UAVs can still operate stably under all kinds of harsh conditions, further broadening the boundaries of UAV applications. It is worth mentioning that the innovation of motor technology is not an isolated development, but is mutually reinforcing with battery technology, aerodynamics and other fields. The emergence of high-energy-density batteries provides sufficient power support for high-performance motors, while aerodynamic optimization reduces the load on the motor, and the three synergistically work together to promote the performance of UAVs to achieve a qualitative leap.
