Propellers

Research is conducted on small scale (micro) propellers such as those used on drones, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and first person view (FPV) quadcopters. Such propellers operate in an aerodynamic region which is highly dominated by viscous effects, therefore their efficiency is significantly lower than larger conventional propellers.

A measurement test rig designed and built by SALIENGI measures thrust, torque an rotational velocity of small propellers to determine their performance characteristics. The test rig passed validation and repeatability tests and is now being used to collect propeller data. SALIENGI offers testing and data collection services using its test rig as an independent lab upon request. This may be required by manufacturers, research teams or also individuals who are building their own aircraft systems.

It may be noted that propeller performance data is not available, but such data is essential to build aircraft systems to suit particular operational demands. Operational demands requiring different propellers for example are racing FPV drones and videography drones. The former requires high power output whereas the latter requires high efficiency (to support longer flight times) and might require higher output forces due to heavier payload. Specific propellers are needed for different operational demands and the test rig at SALIENGI can be used to indicate the difference in performance characteristics of different propellers.