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two things - garbage trucks make lots of noise when they un-deliver your trash, and people put up with it - couldn't commercial drones pay more attention to n

by m463 2mo ago

two things - garbage trucks make lots of noise when they un-deliver your trash, and people put up with it - couldn't commercial drones pay more attention to noise than run-of-the-mill consumer drones? like the fenestron, with asymmetrical blades https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenestron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenestron

verdverm 2mo ago
sanitation services are very different from convenient consumerism, so I won't take it as a reason to accept drones Do you really think Amazon, of all companies, will spend more money to make quieter drones? (that will likely still be quite loud, as there is only so much you can do about physics, small blades and motors whine while big ones thump)
- m463 2mo ago
  I could see amazon using slightly modified rotors. why would it cost that much more. Don't know about ducted rotors. The fenestron is ducted with "variable angular spacing"[1]/"modulated blade spacing" like more stealthy helicopters[2] I kind of doubt amazon helicopters would get up to the "thumps" from passenger helicopter main rotors. But I could see bigger rotors turning slower, or maybe more rotors, each turning slower. Sort of like replacing fast but noisy 80mm case fans in your computer with slower and quieter 140mm or 200mm case fans. I think the PR of quieter drones would be good, not that costly. You can see other companies like waymo getting a lot of bad PR with noise (remember the honking problems?) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenestron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenestron "Fenestrons have between seven and eighteen blades; these may have variable angular spacing so that the noise is distributed over different frequencies." [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_noise_reduction#Methods_of_noise_reduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_noise_reduction#Met...
Groxx 2mo ago
The main noise savings I can see are likely to come from "use a much larger drone and lower the package down on a crane". Larger blades help, but the biggest effect is simply not having it nearby.
sds357 2mo ago
Garbage truck noise is only for a minute once a week

by m463 2mo ago

verdverm 2mo ago

sanitation services are very different from convenient consumerism, so I won't take it as a reason to accept drones Do you really think Amazon, of all companies, will spend more money to make quieter drones? (that will likely still be quite loud, as there is only so much you can do about physics, small blades and motors whine while big ones thump)

m463 2mo ago
I could see amazon using slightly modified rotors. why would it cost that much more. Don't know about ducted rotors. The fenestron is ducted with "variable angular spacing"[1]/"modulated blade spacing" like more stealthy helicopters[2] I kind of doubt amazon helicopters would get up to the "thumps" from passenger helicopter main rotors. But I could see bigger rotors turning slower, or maybe more rotors, each turning slower. Sort of like replacing fast but noisy 80mm case fans in your computer with slower and quieter 140mm or 200mm case fans. I think the PR of quieter drones would be good, not that costly. You can see other companies like waymo getting a lot of bad PR with noise (remember the honking problems?) [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenestron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenestron "Fenestrons have between seven and eighteen blades; these may have variable angular spacing so that the noise is distributed over different frequencies." [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_noise_reduction#Methods_of_noise_reduction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicopter_noise_reduction#Met...

Groxx 2mo ago

The main noise savings I can see are likely to come from "use a much larger drone and lower the package down on a crane". Larger blades help, but the biggest effect is simply not having it nearby.

sds357 2mo ago

Garbage truck noise is only for a minute once a week