November 18, 2024
We were awarded 2nd place in the Zürcher Unterland 2024 Innovation Prize for our innovative drone process for cleaning solar modules, façades and glass surfaces. This recognition shows that sustainable and efficient technologies are also forward-looking in our region – a great success for Swiss Drone Services AG from Niederglatt!
Article > Zürcher Unterländer
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May 04, 2024
Quickly clean a building with a drone? No problem, says a company from Niederglatt and brings its own technology and pilot with it.
“To be honest, I’m a bit nervous,” admits Christian Aeschbach shortly before take-off. Then the drone takes off and cleans the first window in next to no time. The boss’s nervousness gives way to great relief. The technology works. Two years of development and battles with the authorities have paid off.
As with the biggest technology companies in the world, the story begins in a garage. But not in sunny California, but in tranquil Niederglatt, next to stork nests and the local fire station. Entrepreneur Christian Aeschbach and his team have developed a system that can be used to clean windows, roofs, solar panels and façades with a drone.
The biggest headache was not the development, but the authorities. “It took eleven months until I had all the permits together,” says Aeschbach. Thousands of emails were sent back and forth. The Federal Office of Civil Aviation, the Federal Office of Public Health and local authorities were all frequent guests in the entrepreneur’s inbox during this time.
At the beginning of April, the time has finally come: the first order is due, and the test phase is now officially complete. After lunch, Aeschbach and drone pilot Marco Pfister pack up their white company car labeled “Swiss Drone Services”. 65 meters of hose, water purifier, generator, a canister with a special cleaning agent, spare parts and tools are neatly arranged in the vehicle.
Before leaving, however, we go to the garage where it all began. Here is a second control module that is still being worked on. It is like a brain in which the entire system comes together.
“We have just received the first orders,” says Aeschbach proudly. However, for the time being they only want to sell the complete packages abroad and carry out cleaning jobs themselves in Switzerland. In addition to the idea of competition, it is also about being able to further develop the technology themselves based on their experience in everyday use.
Well, no one is going to copy them that quickly. Aeschbach has secured a worldwide patent for the technology behind the cleaning drone for himself and his latest company – he has three more. “That cost me around a quarter of a million francs,” reveals the man in his mid-fifties. Whether it was worth it remains to be seen.
The company car takes us to Sto AG, also in Niederglatt. The building materials manufacturer’s office building has a large window front. Three of these windows are still open, despite an email to the staff, when the two specialists get the drone ready.
When water at a temperature of around 60 degrees sprays from the nozzle below the drone onto the lawn in front of the building, it is ready for operation. Marco Pfister uses his controller to command the drone to ascend to the top window on the left-hand side of the glass front.
Apart from the unfamiliar view of a drone that is currently pelting water onto the window at a good 120 bar, the employees, who are now sitting behind closed windows, don’t notice much of the action. Here, near the airport, soundproof windows have been installed.
Speaking of airports, are drones even allowed here? “Our drone is officially registered as an aircraft and has a number like an airplane,” explains the boss. It therefore appears on the air traffic control radar. There is also a built-in mechanism that automatically forces the drone to descend if a low-flying helicopter from the air rescue service approaches.
After a good half hour, however, something else forces Pfister to order the drone to land. The battery is running low. “I could continue flying for another 40 minutes, but it’s better to change the battery soon enough,” explains the only full-time drone pilot in Switzerland. “When the battery is empty, the drone is no longer controllable. It spins and that can be really dangerous.” The two have spare batteries in the car, of course.
Aeschbach quickly brings in two of the black blocks, while Pfister removes the others. After a short warm-up phase, the drone can move on to the other half of the window front. The aircraft not only cleans the panes quite reliably, it also doesn’t take long at all to clean the struts in between and the sills. “The worst thing is cobwebs, we almost can’t get them off,” they both say. Apparently, 120 bar water pressure is no match for something that evolution has designed for wind speeds of up to 180 kilometers per hour.
Pedestrians and cyclists stop again and again to watch the unusual cleaning operation. “I’ve got windows to clean too,” jokes one cyclist. “I’ve never heard that joke before,” says Aeschbach ironically, after the gentleman has cycled on. But there have also been cases of cyclists falling because they were looking so closely at the drone as they cycled along. They have even witnessed a rear-end collision between two cars, adds the enterprising entrepreneur.
Then it jets off and places the tube loop in the grass in a different position. The drone can fly freely to the next windows again. The degree of soiling on the bottom row of windows proves to be more difficult than expected. Unlike the other two rows, the water makes no attempt to pool on the panes, which would be an indication that it is now clean. But that is no reason for the two developers to give up. They still have an ace up their sleeve: Whey cleaner.
The Appenzell-based company Ciaras AG has developed this environmentally friendly cleaner from the waste material from cheese production. “They saw a video of our drone on Instagram and wrote to us via the direct messages in the app that they had the right cleaner for us,” recalls Aeschbach. The drone team from Niederglatt now also has a canister of the whey cleaner as part of its equipment.
Unlike cleaning windows at home, Swiss Drone Services’ technology does not require a rubber edge or cloth for drying. The drone sprays so-called osmosis water onto the surfaces. To obtain this water, a system in the vehicle completely filters out limescale and minerals. As a result, no small, white droplet marks remain on the windows.
After a good hour, Marco Pfister and Christian Aeschbach can roll up the hose, put the drone in the car and drive back to the garage. The drone is not only faster, but also easier and safer than traditional building cleaning. The two do not need to hire a lifting platform and can therefore also accept jobs spontaneously.
However, not all large-scale cleaning operations can be carried out with the aircraft. “Above a certain height, the wind shear becomes so strong that it would tear the drone apart,” explain Niederglatter. These winds occur when the air is swirled by the corners and edges of tall buildings. This is also one of the reasons why cleaning staff keep having accidents. “Building cleaning is one of the most dangerous professions in the world,” says Aeschbach. “With our drones, we might be able to change that a little.”
The effect of the wind on their work can be seen clearly a few days later in Effretikon. The same drone, but with a different attachment and a different agent in the canister, is used to remove algae and moss from the façade of an apartment building. As soon as the drone flies over the edge of the roof, it is shaken by the wind and the foam of the protective agent is whirled through the air. “Fortunately, the stuff is environmentally friendly,” Aeschbach mentions in passing.
Some of the residents will have got their feet a little wet in their bathroom that evening as they were not at home to close the windows. This was despite information from the administration. Those who are at home, on the other hand, are enjoying the flying cleaning machine. “It’s nice that these drones are also being used for something good,” says the resident of a neighboring house, who came outside especially to film the aircraft with her cell phone.
The facade slowly absorbs the protective agent and allows lichen and moss to die off. In two to three months, the building will look almost as if it has been freshly painted. Depending on the weather and how often the residents let out moist air through tilted windows, the protection will last for several years.
“A lot of inquiries are coming in at the moment,” says Aeschbach happily. And they are gone as quickly as they arrived. Not to the garage in Niederglatt, where it all began, but straight to the next job.
Article and impressions in: Zürcher Unterländer
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March 04, 2024
Trained master painter Christian Aeschbach founded Swiss Drone Services AG. Drones are used to clean facades or windows.
Christian Aeschbach (55) is a qualified master painter and took over the renowned Rüger painting business in 1994, which he still runs under his own name today. This year, the Niederglatter is celebrating its 30th anniversary.
In the fall of 2022, he came up with the idea of expanding his business activities and carrying out traditional façade cleaning and treatment using a drone. The concept development, development and patent registrations were and still are sometimes challenging and time-consuming – the company “Swiss Drone Services” is now registered as a public limited company. It currently has one drone pilot and one drone pilot in training. Marco Bortolan and Thomas Bernhard complete the Board of Directors with technical and other tasks.
For Christian Aeschbach, it is an absolute highlight that everything from the idea to the implementation of the project has resulted in a functioning overall package that can be described as unique worldwide. The thrill of developing something new drives Christian Aeschbach every day anew.
Article: Zürcher Unterländer
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