Propellers are generally designed to take fluid, such as air or water, and make a rotational motion to push that fluid. In fact, it is thought that today’s propeller designs are inspired by Archimedes’ screw and were probably used in ancient Egypt thousands of years before Archimedes.
However, there have been no revolutionary changes in propeller designs for a very long time. Propeller-driven aircraft has still not shown much change in efficiency since the Wright brothers. There is a similar problem with propellers used on ships and boats.
An important development for drones and aerial vehicles
But a radical design change is coming to solve both efficiency and sound problems. This revolutionary design, which originated at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, was seen to radically reduce the noise factor. Dr., a senior staff member in the Structural and Thermal Fluids Engineering Group of the Lincoln Laboratory. Thomas Sebastian says that thanks to the new design, the propellers create fewer vortices in the air, which reduces the sound.
The team not only tested this design on sound but also carried out a series of tests at the point of performance. DJI’s tests on a drone model found that these innovative propellers with a toroid design produce more thrust. On the other hand, it is said that this propeller design is also better in terms of safety.
Of course, the tests conducted by MIT are small-scale, and it is impossible to say at what level the performance and efficiency will be at large scales. However, considering that electric VTOL air taxis will become widespread in the future and considering that the current propeller shape produces high noise, we think that innovative propeller designs in this field may be important. In the meantime, the team has already patented the propeller, and MIT seems to be ready to license it to the respective manufacturer’s Dec.
A similar design gives a greater advantage in the water
Sharrow Marine notes that thanks to a similar approach, it has achieved frankly outstanding results from boat propellers using toroidal loops instead of standard blades. After several years of development, the company has tested its Decellers against hundreds of standard propellers, and the difference is quite large.
Sharrow Marine’s propeller design absorbs much more water, releasing a high thrust force. The new propeller design promises up to two times the efficiency at low and medium-range RPMs. In fact, even this propeller design also reduces fuel consumption by 20 percent. Sharrow Marine also states that the pitching on the boats has decreased thanks to the new propeller design, which it calls Sharrow MX.
You can also see the serious decrease in the sound factor in the video immediately below. Sharrow Marine says it can attach this propeller to any outboard motor. The company has already started selling its propellers. But the only problem seems to be the cost. Because while traditional propellers can be found for around 500 dollars, the asking price for the Sharrow MX is 5000 dollars.
