Racing Drone with Fully Enclosed Carbon Fiber Monocoque

Racing Drone with Fully Enclosed Carbon Fiber Monocoque

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While most racing drones use carbon fiber for its light weight and strength, they are typically using flat sheets.  A couple of engineers out of Russia decided to take carbon fiber to next level when it comes to drone racing.  They created the Nimbus 195, which is a fully enclosed carbon fiber monocoque body for a drone.

Nimbus carbon fiber racing drone

The two-piece molded shape allows for much greater strength and the ability to be weatherproof since all of the electronic components are enclosed inside.  The round shape allows it to be aerodynamic in all directions.

Nimbus 195 carbon fiber drone internal

Nimbus 195 split

The carbon fiber shell is made from a mold, and a variety of different thicknesses (ranging from 1 to 4mm, which should be 4 - 16 layers of carbon fiber) and fiber orientation are used and different regions to optimize for strength and light weight. The Nimbus frame weights 330 grams, in comparison the Vendetta frame is 410 grams and the Vortex frame is 350 grams.  Take a look at this video of crash tests from the prototype where the drone is flown into a brick wall, a tree, driven over by a car, flown into a water and flown into snow, all while being able to get right back into flight:

The Nimbus 195 is starting out as an Indiegogo campaign, that happens to end in just 3 days.  As of this writing, they are almost 70% of the way to their $30,000 goal.  Watch the campaign video here: