This article discusses how Tyto Robotics provided its Series 1585 thrust stand for testing a groundbreaking toroidal drone propeller at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory.
Recently, toroidal propellers have gained notable attention due to their potential to eliminate a key obstacle in the widespread adoption of drones.
This obstacle is noise, particularly in the frequency range that is most perceptible to humans.
Developed at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory,these innovative propellers draw inspiration from the ring wings of early aircraft designs.
The unique configuration features two blades that intertwine, with the tip of one blade curving back into the other.
To evaluate this design,the researchers utilized the Series 1585 thrust stand.
A critical inquiry is whether these toroidal propellers can perform on par with traditional drone propellers.according to their findings,the toroidal models “showed thrust levels similar to those of standard propellers at equivalent power outputs.”
Further testing is necessary to fully assess their capabilities, and the team is equipped for this task:
“Having a dependable, ready-to-use thrust stand like the Series 1585 was essential for our need to conduct frequent tests and rapidly refine our designs for the toroidal propeller,” stated Dr. Thomas Sebastian, Senior Staff Member in Structural & Thermal-Fluids Engineering at MIT Lincoln Laboratory.
