3 ms·
Especially since they've barely started optimizing it. Should be pretty easy for other people to achieve similar or better performance. > the team's best-perfo
by DennisP 4y ago
Especially since they've barely started optimizing it. Should be pretty easy for other people to achieve similar or better performance.
> the team's best-performing B160 design was not only quieter at a given thrust level than the best standard propeller they tested, it also produced more thrust at a given power level – pretty remarkable given that standard props have more than a century of development behind them and these toroids are at a very early stage, with plenty of optimization yet to come.
https://newatlas.com/aircraft/toroidal-quiet-propellers/ https://newatlas.com/aircraft/toroidal-quiet-propellers/
This article also suggests that 3D printing would be the best way to manufacture these. Just need a file on thingiverse.
- steve_adams_86 4y agoI thought it would take a really, really long time for additive manufacturing to become commercially relevant, but I guess people are building rockets with it now. It isn’t about to replace injection moulding and casting completely, but it’s wild that a file on thingiverse can actually be meaningful now. A toroidal prop could absolutely be shared and optimized there, and metal printers will rapidly improve and yield better products. I won’t have one in my garage any time soon (I can still hope), but I can already hire someone else’s printer online. I wouldn’t be surprised if toroidal plastic props for drones end up on there in a usable state fairly soon. What a cool thing — I wouldn’t have thought this would be possible in my life time when I was a kid.