Minimum Torque Propeller Design for Increased Efficiency and Decreased Noise

We propose the minimum torque propeller design will greatly improve Urban Air Mobility (UAM) vehicle efficiency (flight time and operational capability) and noise pollution which are two main goals of AAM. The impact of this project will be the full validation and subsequent adoption of a potentially revolutionary propeller design that simultaneously increases efficiency by 2-3% while simultaneously reducing noise. NASA is currently spending a substantial amount of money on increasing efficiency and reducing noise of UAM vehicles, and this new propeller design will improve both with a fraction of the investment currently being made. We anticipate that potential difficulties in scheduling a time for testing in LSAWT and difficulties in gathering data that scales to larger propellers for large-scale UAM vehicles could limit the scope, but first year CIF-IRAD analysis of the novel propellers has been performed and results show improvement in efficiency and reduction in noise. This project will provide efficiency and acoustic data for the full range of advance ratios to validate the design of these propellers along with the design philosophy itself for use in next-generation UAM vehicles at NASA and in industry.

By the end of FY24, this novel propeller design will be fully tested and validated across all operational advance ratios as a technology for increasing efficiency and reducing noise of UAM vehicles so that industry can utilize this technology for longer flight times, greater operational capability, and reduced noise. In the first year of CIF-IRAD, we designed, analyzed, fabricated, and preliminarily tested the novel propellers and showed that our novel design has 2-3% better efficiency and lower noise than an equivalent minimum induced loss propeller which has been traditionally seen as the optimal solution since the 1920s. This novel propeller design will be used on future small, medium, and large-scale UAM vehicles which are currently being planned to be built at NASA and in industry. Since we’ve already designed, analyzed, fabricated, and preliminarily tested these propellers in the first year of CIF-IRAD, NASA could miss out on easily gathering the full advance ratio dataset in LSAWT for efficiency and acoustics giving the UAM industry proof of the viability of these impactful propellers and increasing the public’s trust in NASA’s ability to improve future aeronautics industries. This new propeller design has very promising results through analysis and preliminary testing in the first year of CIF-IRAD to be a transformative and enabling technology which satisfies two of the main AAM goals: increased efficiency and reduced noise which will be a tremendous contribution from NASA to the budding Urban Air Mobility industry.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.