Elbit Systems’ weaponized LANIUS drone could definitely benefit from toroidal propeller technology, as it could let it roam the battlefield in near silence. Researchers at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory have come up with such a system that consists of two blades looping together so that the tip of one blade curves back into the other, resulting in a closed-form structure.
This closed-form structure minimizes the drag effects of swirling air tunnels created at the tips of blades, while also strengthening the overall stiffness of the propeller, thus reducing its acoustic signature. The current version allows toroidal-propeller-equipped drones to operate without straining human hearing at a distance half that of typical operation.
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Tests of prototype toroidal propellers on commercial quadcopters demonstrated thrust levels comparable to those of conventional propellers at similar power levels. Reduced sound levels allowed toroidal-propeller equipped drones to operate without taxing human hearing at a distance half that of typical operation,” said the researchers.
