The future of drone design: lightweight, durable plastic components
The drone market has been rapidly growing for years, and is projected to reach $57.8 billion by 2030. This presents the perfect opportunity for manufacturers to improve their designs and set their own drones apart from the competition.
One of the best and easiest ways to do this is to implement dry-running, maintenance-free plastic components into drones and drone accessories (landing pads, charging stations, drone-in-a-box systems).
Read on to learn about the benefits maintenance-free plastics can provide drones, and specific ways you can incorporate them into your own designs based on real-world use cases.
Table of contents
Advantages of using high-performance plastics within drones
Plastic components for use in drones & drone technology
Key industries for drone technology
Advantages of using high-performance plastics within drones
Compared to metal, there are numerous advantages to using tribologically optimized plastic components in drone technology. These include maintenance-free operation, resistance to dirt and dust, lightweight composition, and more.
Maintenance-free
Tribologically optimized plastics, like those from igus, are designed with built-in solid lubricants that are evenly blended into the plastic material. This ensures that the component remains adequately lubricated at all times, eliminating the need for routine maintenance.
Further reading: How do self-lubricating bearings work?
Dirt & dust resistance
Normally, the grease used to keep metal components running smoothly will attract dirt and dust over time. However, because plastic components don’t use grease, there’s nothing for dirt and dust to adhere to. This makes plastic components completely resistant to dirt and dust, perfect for outdoor applications.
Corrosion resistance
Plastics are inherently resistant to corrosion, allowing them to be used in outdoor applications exposed to moisture without issue. While some metals like stainless steel and aluminum also offer corrosion resistance, many will suffer from rust and corrosion if exposed to moisture.
Lightweight
Plastics are inherently lighter than metals, and weight is one of the most important factors to consider in drone design. Lightweight plastic bearings make it easier to meet design requirements regarding weight, especially as they can weigh up to five times less than metal alternatives.
Low-cost
Production and material costs for plastic components are much less than those of metal components, making plastics a more cost-effective choice. This can both help reduce the total cost of the system, or allow for more budget to be allocated to costly components and systems like batteries, sensors, and remote control systems.
Plastic components for use in drones & drone technologies
There’s a variety of tribologically optimized plastic components that can be used within drones and drone technology. These include various bearings like plain, linear, and spherical bearings, lead screw assemblies and belt- and screw-driven linear actuators, cable carriers, and custom components.
Plain bearings
Plain bearings are some of the most versatile bearings in the manufacturing space due to their ability to handle various types of motion, and as such can be used all across drones and their accessories.
In a gyroplane developed by German company Schwarz Industrieservice, iglide bearings were used in the rotor head, responsible for facilitating movement on the longitudinal and transverse axes.
Linear bearings
Linear bearings can be found in both specialized drones and other technology like landing stations. In landing stations, linear bearings can be used for platform extensions and positioning systems.
Specialized drones, like this pest control drone called “FitoStinger”, can make use of linear bearings for precise linear movements. In the case of FitoStinger, a carbon fiber drylin linear guide was used to position a pesticide sprayer to specific points of infestation.
Spherical bearings
Spherical bearings are an integral part of drone design, particularly in drones that utilize a physical swash plate. Here, igubal spherical bearings can provide reliable, maintenance-free performance in any weather.
igubal spherical bearings have been used for exactly this type of application in the MARVIN Mk3 helicopter drone. The bearings were used at the point of attachment for the push rods, swash plate, and rotor blade holders of the drone. The entire bearing system needed to be clearance-free, and helps decouple the tail rotor from vibrations of the rotor blades.
Lead screw assemblies
Lead screw assemblies are most often used in drone-in-a-box systems and other similar landing platforms or battery swap stations. Many of these systems have a lid or door that can open and close as needed for drone takeoff and landing, which can be driven by a lead screw assembly.
Proprietary high-helix lead screw assemblies from igus provide the perfect low-friction solution for such applications. The asymmetrical thread design helps achieve a 30% increased service life compared to other thread profiles.
Linear actuators
Much like linear bearings and lead screw assemblies, linear actuators can be used for straight-line movements in landing pads and drone-in-a-box systems. Screw-driven and belt-driven actuators are both available from igus, and both offer dry-running, maintenance-free operation.
Cable carriers
Cable carriers are most useful for drone-in-a-box systems, where cables need to be kept well-organized to avoid snagging or tangling. The opening and closing of the lid, movement of the drone-centering components, and raising and lowering of the landing platform all can benefit from cable management.
The compact size of drone-in-a-box systems means the cable carriers need to be particularly small in design. igus provides miniature polymer cable carriers — such as the E2 mini and E2 micro — perfect for this area of application. As with other igus products, e-chain cable carriers are dry-running, resist dirt, dust, and other weather effects, and are maintenance-free.
Custom components
For specialized applications, standard stock components won’t always be a viable solution. Custom components 3D printed with igus’ wear-resistant 3D printing materials are ideal in these situations, as they provide all the benefits of igus tribopolymers in custom dimensions and geometries.
Parts can be printed via FDM, SLS, and DLP methods, and over a dozen materials are available across all three methods.
Key industries for drone technology
Material handling
Some warehouses are already starting to use drones for material handling and inventory management. Drones can not only fly around the warehouse to scan product barcodes and inspect products for damage, but they can even transport products throughout the warehouse or between separate warehouses.
Military
Both in-air and underwater drones are used in military applications. While they’re most often used for surveillance and reconnaissance, they can also be used in precision strikes, training exercises, and logistics.
Marine
Underwater drones, or remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) have been used as early as the 1950s. They can be used across a wide range of applications, including pipeline inspections, ecosystem and climate change study, and monitoring fish farms.
Disaster response
Drones are an excellent solution for disaster response situations, enabling rapid surveying of disaster areas. This can help disaster response teams better prioritize their time and resources, ultimately leading to faster and more effective responses that mitigate disaster impact and save more lives.
Conclusion
In the fast-growing drone market, companies need to find ways to set themselves apart from the competition or risk falling behind. Self-lubricating plastic components offer that much-needed competitive edge, allowing light, low-maintenance drones and accessories to be developed at a fraction of the cost.
