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Wind Effect on Aerodynamic Optimization for Non-planar Rotor Pairs using Full-scale Measurements

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Abstract

Aerodynamic force measurements and a flow field survey were performed on two original non-planar rotor pairs in order to investigate the effect of wind disturbances on aerodynamic performance at low Reynolds numbers and provide effective data for the design of a rotor system for a small unmanned aerial vehicles with different disk plane angles φ and rotor spacing ratios S/D. Experiments were performed on a test-platform based on the use of two proposed rotor pairs which permit characterization of the aerodynamic performance as a function of wind turbulence with a frequency in the range from approximately 0 to 4 m/s. The measurement results show that variations in wind speed cause large variation in the mean values of the lift force and power consumption. The combined optimal configuration is S/ D = 1.0 with φ = 50 deg for the non-planar rotor systems with good wind resistance.

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Abbreviations

D :

Rotor diameter (mm)

d :

Shaft diameter (mm)

F :

Lift force (g)

O:

Rotational speed (rpm)

C p :

Power coefficient

P :

Power (W)

Q :

Torque (Nm)

l :

Rotor spacing (mm)

f :

Disk plane angle

C T :

Thrust coefficient

b :

Average blade chord (mm)

Re :

Reynolds number

h :

Rotor height (mm)

z :

Normalized rotor height

M tip :

Mach number

S/ D :

Rotor spacing ratio

v :

Wind speed (m/s)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China

    Yao Lei

  2. Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130033, China

    Yue Bai & Zhijun Xu

Authors
  1. Yao Lei
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  2. Yue Bai
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  3. Zhijun Xu
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Correspondence to Yao Lei.

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Lei, Y., Bai, Y. & Xu, Z. Wind Effect on Aerodynamic Optimization for Non-planar Rotor Pairs using Full-scale Measurements. J Intell Robot Syst 87, 615–626 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-017-0476-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10846-017-0476-y

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