Posted on 02/01/2022 9:48:44 AM PST by BenLurkin
In the late 1480s, Leonardo da Vinci sketched out a clever design for a one-person helicopter propelled by an "aerial screw."
Starting in 2019, a University of Maryland engineering team designed and tested the underlying technology as part of a design contest. Then over the last year and a half, team member Austin Prete built Crimson Spin, an unmanned quadcopter drone using da Vinci's screwlike design, and flew it on several brief journeys.
Although Prete built only a small drone, the technology could work with an aircraft big enough to haul a human. "I do believe it should be able to scale up fairly well," he said.
Renaissance era construction materials, such as wood and leather, are too dense for aircraft. Da Vinci also didn't have compact energy sources.
Prete had access to aluminum, plastic, electric motors, batteries and computer control systems that made the aerial screw design possible. Also helpful: computer-aided design and computational fluid dynamics software that Prete used to design.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
I read it and also saw “He and other team members were Initially skeptical but grew more excited by da Vinci’s design after some computer simulations and 3D-printed screw prototypes showed promising trends.”
That is good engineering — come up with a new idea, be skeptical of it, and grow more convinced of it as you do more analyses.
I still stand by he was just exuberant and really didn’t mean “we were surprised it worked.”
Math is Racist you sound like the Grand Pooba
Biden means Dumas from Delaware
For a university project I wish it would’ve said how many rpm the screws needed to perform compared to the average propeller.
“It’s like saying “from Aachen” and expecting people to know that you mean Charlemagne.”
No, not when there is only one really famous person from Vinci and he is world renowned by that descriptor.
He might have been concerned with the balance and weight distribution.
Gaius Julius Caesar was born in Rome, Italy in the year 100 BCE to the patrician family of Gaius Julius Caesar and his wife Aurelia
Caesar was his last name.
Yes, of course... his was the cognomen after whom all the other Caesars followed.
Thanks for the post
If it weren’t for the electronics, an F-35 wouldn’t fly either.
My comment was tongue-in-cheek. screw propellers = screwy design.
The Italian usage, as well as that of art historians, is plain Leonardo. da Vinci didn’t become common until Dan Brown.
I know. I just like to heckle. ;-D
If it crashes, will that give new meaning to the term, “Auger In”? Asking for a friend.
There’s always a chance you missed something. Obviously his calculations were correct.
“Biden means Dumas from Delaware”
Are you sure you didn’t mean “DumbAss from Delaware?
I wonder what the RPM difference is between this and conventional props on a drone?
Propeller airplanes exhibit diminishing speeds for energy expended starting in the 450mph range. I haven’t studied the science behind it, but it’s pretty obvious that it’s caused by radial air flow. These long air augers would increase radial air flow exponentially, and would substantially decrease power efficiency. Most of the length of these auger shafts would be plagued with extremely low air pressure ....little air to move, and suction from all directions.
Don’t feel bad. Kelly Johnson and 🦨 Skunkworks 🦨 built the U-2 and A-12,SR-71 with a Slide Ruler.
Drawn with pencil on mylar and fabricated by high school grads running manual controlled machine tools...
I love to point that out to youngsters...
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