FAQ
General products page
Q: What is the benefit of visionair´s power management solutions?
Q: Why is monitoring so important?
A: By monitoring, you have access to the UAVs vital status and are able to react accordingly if something turns out to be wrong.
Q: Does each product cover all power management steps in one single unit?
A: Our approach has led us to separate the various steps in the power management process. This means that rectification of a generator AC input and HV output is separated from power conversion and distribution, as well as energy storage or engine starting.
Q: Why does each product only cover certain power management features.
A: This allows for modularity and enables for more reliable system architectures and lower costs of spares.
Q: Are your products reliable?
A: Yes, our products are all designed with maximum operational safety in mind. This is also the reason why we offer to calibrate the power management products to your engine, providing an integrated propulsion system.
Q: How do your products increase operational safety?
A: The Power Distribution Units for example are partly redundant, providing enhanced safety to your platform and reducing the risk of losing the platform and reducing ground risk for third parties. Our other products have features implemented, which increase the overall systems safety and reliability.
Q: Are all of your products redundant?
A: No, redundancy is partly implemented for some of the outputs of the 900W and 1800W Power Distribution Unit and its inputs, as the PDU is the backbone and most critical part of a UAVs electric system. The redundant outputs are used to power the critical onboard equipment.
Q: How can I create a redundant electrical architecture for bigger platforms?
A: For larger platforms (eg. >300kg), redundant architectures can be achieved by using more units in an interconnected way. For example, you can use several GCUs, PDUs and power combiners.
Q: Do all products have a user interface for programming and monitoring?
A: Active products such as the Power Distribution Units, the Generator Control Unit, the engine starter and the Battery Balancing and Monitoring Board provide an extensive set of data on either CAN and RS232. The other products such as the Power Combiners or Power Supply do not provide data.
GCU
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Q: What is the Generator Control Unit used for?
A: The GCU performs active rectification of a generator AC input and conditions the rectified DC into programmable HV outputs from 36V to 60V.
Q: How is the GCU programmed?
A: We provide a programming software to connect the GCU to a computer for programming, monitoring and updating.
Q: Can the Generator Control Unit output 28V?
A: No. Our system approach is designed to keep the energy generation and storage at higher voltages for easy onboard transfer, while our PDU performs the down-conversion to 12-28V outputs.
Q: What other features does the Generator Control Unit have?
A: It has HALL-sensor and temperature sensor inputs to monitor the Generator itself. All input and output voltages, currents and other data is provided on the CAN and RS232 interface.
Q: Does the Generator control Unit have a ground power input?
A: Yes, the GCU has a ground power input to power the UAV during ground testing or pre-flight checks.
Q: Why is monitoring so important?
A: By monitoring, you have access to the UAVs vital status and are able to react accordingly if something turns out to be wrong. It allows for safety automations in autopilots.
Q: Is there only one variant of the Generator Control Unit?
A: No, the GCU is a modular product in itself and can be hardware-configured to various output variants. Download the ‘GCU output variants’ document for further details.
Q: Does the Generator Control Unit provide power directly to the PDU?
A: Yes, the GCU outputs can be directly connected to the PDU, while we recommend to have the onboard batteries connected in between the GCU and PDU in parallel.
900W PDU
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Q: What is the Power Distribution Unit used for?
A: The PDU performs down-conversion and conditioning of the battery and GCU HV output into three programmable outputs.
Q: How is the PDU programmed?
A: We provide a programming software to connect the PDU to a computer for programming, monitoring and updating.
Q: Can the Generator Control Unit output 28V?
A: Yes. The PDU performs the down-conversion from up to three separate inputs into programmable outputs from 6V/12V to 28V.
Q: Is the Power Distribution unit redundant?
A: The PDU can be connected to three separated DC input sources, providing redundancy on the input side. Two out of three outputs are internally duplicated for redundancy, providing 100% output power even if one chain internally fails, providing enhanced reliability and safety through reduction of the risk of crashing.
Q: What other features does the Power Distribution Unit have?
A: It has extensive monitoring capabilities to know what your system does at any time. It also has a payload shedding capability, which cuts the payload output if there is a safety issue detected or if the command is sent via the autopilot. The PDUs battery inputs and outputs can be switched off on command if required.
Q: Does the Power Distribution Unit have a ground power input?
A: Yes, the PDU has a ground power input to power the UAV during ground testing or pre-flight checks.
Q: Why is monitoring so important?
A: By monitoring, you have access to the UAVs vital status and are able to react accordingly if something turns out to be wrong. It allows for safety automations in autopilots.
Q: Is onboard equipment directly connected to the Power Distribution Unit?
A: You can do so. The PDUs outputs are short-circuit protected but we recommend to fuse each device, reducing the risk of effecting other equipment connected to the same output.
1800W PDU
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Q: What is the Power Distribution Unit used for?
A: The PDU performs down-conversion and conditioning of the battery or GCU HV outputs into six programmable outputs.
Q: How is the PDU programmed?
A: We provide a programming software to connect the PDU to a computer for programming, monitoring and updating.
Q: Can the Power Distribution Unit output 28V?
A: Yes. The PDU performs the down-conversion from up to three separate inputs into programmable outputs from 6V/12V to 28V.
Q: Is the Power Distribution unit redundant?
A: The PDU can be connected to three separated DC input sources, providing redundancy on the input side. Four out of six outputs are internally duplicated for redundancy, providing 100% output power even if one chain internally fails, providing enhanced reliability and safety through reduction of the risk of crashing.
Q: What other features does the Power Distribution Unit have?
A: It has extensive monitoring capabilities to know what your system does at any time. It also has a payload shedding capability, which cuts the payload output if there is a safety issue detected or if the command is sent via the autopilot. The PDUs battery inputs and outputs can be switched off on command if required.
Q: Does the Power Distribution Unit have a ground power input?
A: Yes, the PDU has a ground power input to power the UAV during ground testing or pre-flight checks.
Q: Why is monitoring so important?
A: By monitoring, you have access to the UAVs vital status and are able to react accordingly if something turns out to be wrong. It allows for safety automations in autopilots.
Q: Is onboard equipment directly connected to the Power Distribution Unit?
A: You can do so. The PDUs outputs are short-circuit protected but we recommend to fuse each device, reducing the risk of effecting other equipment connected to the same output.
Engine starter
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Q: What is the UAV Engine Starter used for?
A: The UES cranks a UAV engine for remote starting capabilities.
Q: How is the UAV Engine Starter programmed?
A: We provide a programming software to connect the UES to a computer for programming, monitoring and updating.
Q: Is the UAV Engine Starter a sensorless BLDC controller?
A: No, the UES is a more advanced controller. It has HALL- and temperature sensor inputs for starter/generator monitoring and advanced controls.
Q: What are these advanced controls?
A: The UES can be adapted to the very specific requirements of the engine and generator, eg. number of poles, cranking speed, cranking acceleration and more.
Q: How does the UAV Engine Starter effect the Generator Control Units rectification if used together?
A: The UES interfaces to the GCU and tells it to stop rectification during cranking of the engine, preventing the GCU to convert energy while the UES tries to start the engine.
1500W Power Combiner
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Q: What is the 1500W Power Combiner used for?
A: The 1500W PC is an ideal diode device, allowing to combine two sources of power into one redundant output.
Q: Is the 1500W Power Combiner programmable?
A: No. Even though there are active transistors performing the efficient process, it is considered a passive product without the ability to be programmed or changed in any way.
Q: Are there other use cases for the 1500W Power Combiner?
A: Yes, we use it in create larger and safer electric architectures by combining different sources and therefore creating redundancy.
5000W Power Combiner
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Q: What is the 5000W Power Combiner used for?
A: The 5000W PC is an ideal diode device, allowing to combine two sources of power into one redundant output.
Q: Is the 5000W Power Combiner programmable?
A: No. Even though there are active transistors performing the efficient process, it is considered a passive product without the ability to be programmed or changed in any way.
Q: Are there other use cases for the 5000W Power Combiner?
A: Yes, we use it in create larger and safer electric architectures by combining different sources and therefore creating redundancy.
60W Power Supply
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Q: What is the 60W Power Supply used for?
Q: Is the 60W Power Supply programmable or does it provide monitoring?
A: No. It can only be configured to a 6V, 12V or 16V output via a rotary DIP switch.