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Connect Generate Generate a
Generate points to leading propeller
foil section generate edge Line blade by
points foil of the "Lonsections
propeller function
3.2.1 Propeller Foil Sections
Figure 16: Flow Chart ofGenerating a Propeller Blade
The foil section points are three dimensional values (x,y,z), therefore the SolidWorks
function "3D sketch" is used to read the points infonnation into SolidWorks. As
referenced in Chung's paper [18], 40 points on a propeller foil section can provide
sufficient resolution in geometry. OpenPVL_SW defines that each foil section has 40
points, which arc in the order of 1-40. Ifuscrs want to change the amount of foil section
points, they can change the point amount in the OpcnPVL_SW code, and confinn that the
point amount is the same as the amount displayed in the propeller design function of
Matlab graphical user interface (See in Chapter 2). The foil section point amount is
defined by the commands ofReDim swSketchPt () in the OpenPVL_SW code. The
number in the parenthesis mark is the numbcr of foil section points. A Large number of
points can provide a high resolution in propeller foil section geometry, howevcr, too
many points will waste more time on unnecessary calculations. Figure 17 shows the
points on a propeller foil section.
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