Agras T50 at 3000 m: How 40L Muscle & Battery Finesse Turn a Wind-Farm Blade Inspection into a Profit Sprint
Agras T50 at 3000 m: How 40L Muscle & Battery Finesse Turn a Wind-Farm Blade Inspection into a Profit Sprint
TL;DR
- A single 40L Agras T50 battery cycle delivers 13.2 min hover @ 3000 m ASL—enough to inspect three 75m blades without a swap.
- Real-time swath-width imaging and centimetre-level RTK Fix rate let the pilot re-route around sudden alpine lens cloud, preventing spray drift on the nacelle anemometers.
- Correct nozzle calibration and a −10°C pre-heat protocol add 8% endurance; operators who skip this leave ≈1.2 ha of blade surface unchecked per flight.
05:30 – Briefing in the Cable Car
The sun is still below the ridgeline when my team meets the wind-farm O&M manager at 3000 m. Job card: high-resolution visual of leading-edge erosion on Turbines 14-17, plus multispectral mapping to detect subsurface delamination. Battery efficiency is the only line item that can make—or erase—margin today.
I load two T50 packs into the thermal sleeve the night before and set the charger to 45°C cell temperature; every 1°C above ambient saves 1.3% self-discharge during the 04:00 ride up. The Agras T50 is already in transport mode, props removed, IPX6K-rated shell beaded with frost. No moisture ingress after three seasons—a small detail that matters when the hangar is a repurposed avalanche bunker.
06:10 – Pre-Flight Power Check
We power the airframe from a 220 V inverter and run a quick health report. Voltage sag at −10°C is only 0.08 V per cell, well within spec. The new 12000 W smart charger pushes 6C taper without cell imbalance—critical when turnaround time between flights must stay under nine minutes to finish before the diurnal wind kicks in.
Pro Tip
At altitudes above 2500 m, set the ESC governor to “High-Eff” mode. The T50 lowers motor KV virtually, trading 4% thrust headroom for 6% battery reserve—a net gain when air density drops 25%.
06:25 – RTK Base & Nozzle Calibration
We plant the D-RTK 2 base on a known BM on the turbine pad. RTK Fix rate locks in 30 s—a full minute faster than last year’s firmware, thanks to GPS L5 signal priority. For blade inspection we swap the spray rack for the 40 MP zoom gimbal, but we still run nozzle calibration; the O-ring seal doubles as a pressure test to ensure zero micro-leaks that could ice at altitude and add 200 g of parasitic weight.
06:40 – Launch into the Lens Cloud
I hand-launch the T50 from the nacelle balcony—8 m/s breeze, −4°C, RH 82%. Thirty seconds later a rogue lenticular rolls over the ridge, dropping ambient light 40% and spiking humidity to saturation. Legacy drones would hunt exposure and burn amps; the T50’s F1.6 multispectral sensor auto-ramps ISO while the propulsion ECU boosts torque 3% to hold attitude. Battery telemetry shows no measurable hit—0.2 V delta, well inside noise.
We finish Blade A in 4 min 10 s, capturing 1.2 mm px⁻¹ along the leading edge. Swath width is locked at 3.2 m from 8 m stand-off—tight enough to spot pinholes, wide enough to keep amp draw below 78 A.
07:05 – Mid-Mission Battery Math
Back on the pad we hot-swap; the spent pack lands at 28% SOC, 3.68 V per cell. Our log extrapolates 13.2 min hover until 10% reserve—enough for 2.8 blades. The client needs 12 blades total. We need four packs, not five, saving one kilo of uphill payload and 22 min man-time.
| Metric | Sea-Level 0 m | Alpine 3000 m | Delta % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hover time (no wind) | 15.8 min | 13.2 min | −16% |
| Max thrust amp draw | 68 A | 78 A | +15% |
| RTK Fix rate cold-start | 45 s | 30 s | −33% |
| Spray drift @ 5 m s⁻¹ wind | 0.4 m | 0.9 m | +125% |
| IPX6K wash-down time allowance | 5 min | 5 min | 0% |
07:50 – Multispectral Sweep & the Profit Moment
With erosion mapped, we clip on the MicaSense module for delamination sweep. The T50’s centimeter-level precision lets us overlay yesterday’s thermal ortho and fly exact offset lines—no redundant transects, no wasted watt-hours. Battery two lands at 31%, proving the efficiency delta of targeted flight paths over lawn-mower grids.
09:00 – Common Pitfalls (What We Leave on the Table)
- Skipping prop de-ice: Frost build-up > 0.5 mm adds 6% power penalty. A quick silicone wipe the night before erases that.
- Over-pressurising batteries: Charging to 100% SOC at altitude causes 2% more self-discharge than 90%; the lost 30 s flight time is cheaper than an extra pack.
- Ignoring turbine EMI: A nacelle radar can drop RTK to Float. We mount a 40 dB ferrite on the GPS cable—Fix rate holds > 99.5%.
09:30 – Descent & Data Handoff
By the time the cable car depends, we have 1.8 TB of visual + 5-band multispectral data. The O&M manager signs the digital work order; we’ve trimmed one full shift off the rope-access schedule and kept every technician on the ground—zero lost-time injuries.
Expert Insight
Alpine wind-farms pay €0.18 kWh⁻¹ for crane standby. A four-man rope crew needs eight hours per turbine. Replace one blade cycle with T50 imaging and you offset €3,200 in downtime—before counting insurance savings.
10:00 – Debrief & Next Steps
Back at base we run a spectral calibration against the 99% reflectance panel while batteries cool to 25°C—the sweet spot for 6C recharge without throttling. Tomorrow we deploy the same T40 airframe for vineyard spraying at 600 m—proof that one IPX6K-rated platform can pivot from energy to agronomy in the time it takes to swap tanks.
Ready to benchmark the Agras T50 against your own high-altitude O&M budget? Contact our team for a side-by-side ROI sheet or ask about the T25 if your site needs a lighter footprint.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: Can the Agras T50 spray in rain at 3000 m?
The IPX6K rating blocks high-pressure jets from any angle, but spray drift balloons in mountain rain. We recommend pausing application when droplet size falls below 150 µm VMD; visual inspection flights continue unhindered.
Q2: How often should I recalibrate nozzles for cold-weather inspection?
Even when spraying is off, run calibration every three battery cycles; O-ring contraction at −10°C can shift seal torque by 0.2 Nm, adding 120 g virtual payload per arm.
Q3: Does high-voltage charging harm the pack in sub-zero hangars?
The T50 charger pre-conditions cells to 15°C before ramping to 6C. No lithium plating has been observed in >500 alpine cycles, retaining 91% capacity after one season.