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Aerodynamics and Design for Ultra-Low Reynolds Number Flight

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Chapter 7<br />

168<br />

Figure of Merit<br />

0.8<br />

0.7<br />

0.6<br />

0.5<br />

0.4<br />

0.3<br />

0.2<br />

0.1<br />

Suggested Upper Per<strong>for</strong>mance Limit from Basic Rotor Theory<br />

0.0<br />

34000 38000 42000 46000 50000 54000<br />

RPM<br />

FIGURE 7.7 Figure of merit <strong>for</strong> the four-blade 2.5cm diameter rotor.<br />

The potential benefits of improved per<strong>for</strong>mance on the power required <strong>for</strong> hover can be<br />

demonstrated by utilizing Eqn.7.8. Improving the measured per<strong>for</strong>mance from M=0.39<br />

to M=0.6 at a vehicle mass of 17.1g would represent a decrease in the thrust specific<br />

power from 15.1W/N to 9.8W/N. Once translated through the system efficiency of 15%,<br />

this represents a 35% drop, or almost six Watts, in the system power required. It is clear<br />

that improving upon the measured aerodynamic per<strong>for</strong>mance of these rotors would<br />

partially mitigate the system efficiency issues <strong>and</strong> move further toward achieving<br />

powered flight at the smallest physical scales.<br />

Rapid Analysis Method<br />

Aluminum Rotor, Experiment<br />

OVERFLOW-D

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