UAVOS has announced that the company has developed a new main rotor blade to be installed on its unmanned helicopters with take-off weight of 77 lbs (35 kg) The new rotor, with a diameter of 102.36in (2600 mm), was developed and produced by UAVOS’ rotor blade specialists at the company’s production facilities. The one-step blade molding process, using polymer composite materials and resulting in an improved aerodynamic shape, has dramatically affected the flight performance of UAVOS’ unmanned helicopters
Previous mass produced main rotor blades were constructed by gluing together the lower and upper surfaces. UAVOS’ innovative solution uses a technology consisting of hot forming a composite ‘prepreg’ material, which involves the manufacture of a blade airfoil in a single step molding. This method eliminates the delamination of the lower and upper planes, since there is no glue seam. In addition, the design allows for the warping and narrowing of the blade, thus increasing strength and rigidity while offering high aerodynamic characteristics. This results in increased lifespan, reduced production costs, improved performance, and more reliable flights in warm climates.
Aliaksei Stratsilatau, UAVOS Lead developer, commented: “We had to develop and manufacture a blade of our own because we were unsatisfied with what the market had to offer. Firstly, during tests it turned out that the blades have a rather low efficiency; secondly, there was no available documentation with off-the-shelf blades to confirm their reliability and quality. During project development, our team used calculations based on their experience of blade testing for our high-altitude aircraft. Bench tests confirmed our calculations to be correct and demonstrated that the efficiency of the UAVOS blade is higher by 20%.”
