Draft 1: Summary on healthcare drones

-

According to the webpage “Zipline (drone delivery)” from hand wiki (n.d) which gives an insight on the Zipline autonomous drone, the current mission of the drone is to deliver medical supplies to rural areas of the country that are difficult to access. Zipline currently has their own distribution center, which includes a drone airport where operators would pack medical supplies into a package with a parachute after orders from hospitals and clinics come through. The maximum payload is 1.75 kilograms, and each distribution center can handle up to 500 deliveries per day. 

A device used to deploy the drone is the “supercapacitor-powered electric catapult launcher.” According to Wang, Jun Wu, and Huang (2018), the device is a hybrid energy storage system consisting of a battery and super capacitor to reduce the volume and weight of the energy storage system. This allows the launching of the drone to be fast and efficient at 113 km/h in 0.33 seconds. 

 Since the drone is autonomous, it can reach its destination on its own within 45 minutes traveling at a cruising speed of 101km/h and an altitude of 80 and 120 meters. Once at its destination, it is programmed to descend to 20 to 32 meters above ground and drop the package with a parachute.  The drones operate on quickly replaceable batteries which allow fast and efficient turnaround between flights and are made with an inner carbon-fiber frame and outer polystyrene shell. According to an article titled “Carbon Fibers: Production, Properties and Potential Use” written by Bhatt and Goe (2017), carbon fiber is high in stiffness, tensile strength, low weight to strength ratio, corrosion resistant, electrically conductive and fatigue resistant, allowing the drone to be lightweight for longer travel times, able to withstand unfavorable weather conditions during its flight and allow higher payloads for delivery. According to the webpage “Zipline (drone delivery)” from hand wiki (n.d), one safety feature of the drone is the ability to operate with one propeller while having two propellers as back up in case one fails. Another safety feature is having the outer shell made of polystyrene, which is a brittle material, so that if the drone crashes, the exterior components are designed to break apart upon impact, dissipating energy and reducing overall force of impact. 

These materials and their properties make the drone a reliable way to aid in healthcare delivery by being fast, efficient, and safe, and Zipline has clearly demonstrated the potential of these drones.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Self-Introduction

-
Subject: Self introduction email   Dear Prof. Brad,   My name is Vernon and I am writing this to introduce myself and to tell you what I hope to achieve for this module. I graduated from aerospace and aeronautical engineering in Nanyang Polytechnic, and currently I am studying mechanical design and manufacturing in Singapore Institute of Technology. I have always been interested in engineering ever since I went on board a navy ship my dad worked in, and that is what differentiates me from the others as I was able to gain a small insight in the engineering field at an early age .   A communication weakness I have is speaking in front of a crowd, be it small or large. Speaking in front of a crowd has always been uncomfortable for me and whenever I am put in such situations such as presentations, I tend to panic and forget what I am saying which has happened countless times.   However, one of my communication strengths would be speaking people one-on-one and even though I am still not
Read more

Summary Reader Response Draft 4: Healthcare Drones

-
  The article written by Balasubramanian (2022), "Drones May Become ‘The Next Big Thing’ In Healthcare Delivery", healthcare drone integration has the potential to change patient access to crucial medical services in remote and underprivileged locations, improving health outcomes and lowering healthcare costs. One such company making use of these drones is Zipline. According to Wikipedia (Zipline, 2023), Zipline drones are autonomous, and can fly between 80 and 120 meters above ground and at a cruise speed of 101 km /h to their destination in 45 minutes. Upon arrival, the drone descends at a height of 20 to 32 meters above the ground and parachute-drops the package. The drones comprise of an inner carbon-fiber frame and an exterior polystyrene shell. The exterior shell is made up of polystyrene which is a brittle material so that in the case of the drone crashing, it would break apart upon impact, dissipating energy and reduce the overall form of impact. According to an art
Read more

Critical Reflection

-
Module learning At the start of this module, I did not have high expectations of myself. In my previous experience with a similar module during my time at polytechnic, I struggled with both oral presentations and writing. During the first week, we were asked to write a self-introduction and outline our goals for the module. My goals were to become more confident in giving presentations and to improve my writing skills. Over the past thirteen weeks, I feel that I have made progress towards one of those goals. Writing has never been my strong suit, but learning about critical thinking and the Paul-Elder Framework provided me with a helpful framework for improving my writing. I was able to see this improvement in my summary reader response. Additionally, I learned how to search for information on the internet more effectively, which helped me narrow down my research and improve my summary reader response even further. While my presentation skills have improved somewhat, they were not quit
Read more