Aerodynamic Design of a High Efficient Solar Powered UAV Propeller

Aerodynamic Design of a High Efficient Solar Powered UAV Propeller

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High altitude long endurance(HALE) solar powered unmanned aerial vehicle is of the design characteristics of low Renolds(Re) number which makes a great challenge to the propeller aerodynamic design.Based on jeff rosenstock buffalo the general layout of a UAV, a solar powered propeller is designed.Multi variables optimization method is used to design the blade element.

With proper blade width and pitch read more distribution, the propeller works efficiently in low Re number.The propeller aerodynamic characteristics are validated in BEM(blade element momentum) method.The calculation shows the propeller has a high efficiency of over 85% in cruise.