Aircraft applications of Voith-Schneider propeller?

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The recent post on Bauhaus Luftfahrt led me to this brief description of a VTOL aircraft using Voith-Schneider propellers and the attached image on their web site.

The 2D Propulsor

One of the innovative technologies devised by Bauhaus Luftfahrt originates in a completely different discipline, namely shipping. The Voith-Schneider propulsion system with its vertical axis of rotation has been used on ships for over eighty years. The Voith-Schneider propeller (VSP) is fitted with blades that protrude vertically into the water, rotate around a fixed point and can be adjusted individually.

The fact that the VSP propulsion system produces thrust and is therefore suitable for use in aviation is nothing new, but Bauhaus Luftfahrt has added a rotating cylin-der in the middle of the VSP blades to generate additional lift. The think tank has already patented this new propulsion system and the resulting aircraft design is a completely new type of helicopter on which the conventional rotor blades are re-placed by four laterally extending paddle-wheels.

This was all news to me, so I was also pleased to find this great interactive demo of how a Voith-Schneider propeller actually works.

Now the kicker--does anyone know of any previous projects which applied the Voith-Schneider propeller to aircraft and how that worked out? They might just as well be "Early Aircraft Projects" since the VSP is over 80 years old and might also be listed under "cycloidal drive" or, presumably, a "cycloidal rotor."

Cheers,

Matthew
 

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That was my instinctive reaction when I saw that concept art as well--insufficient rotor disc area. Still, there would be ways to tackle that issue. I suspect that a real-world VSP application would look more like helicopter crossed with a paddle-wheel steamer. Of course, autorotation in an engine-out situation might be a problem... :-\
 
See e.g. http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,2837.0/highlight,cyclogyro.html

Regards & all,

Thomas L. Nielsen
Luxembourg
 
This is the only one I've seen built. The builders claim that it has enough power to hover at half throttle but the only video shows it tethered, probably because of stability and control issues.

http://serve.me.nus.edu.sg/cyclocopter/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuFLO9tKYpE
 
Mole said:
... Of course, autorotation in an engine-out situation might be a problem... :-\

If all paddles/blades, whatever you call it, are set horizontally, there might be a wing area
large enough to allow for gliding. ;)
 
Then again, I suppose that there is not aerodymic reason that it couldn't autorotate if the pitch change function remained operational with the engine out.... ???
 
IIRC, there was a toy kite using this concept: It had two thin, stiff slats on longitudinal axles set at a fair dihedral.

Yes, it flew. Yes, it auto-rotated when the string was released...

IMHO, it was to an aeroplane what an autogyro is to a helo...
 
Stuka said:
This is the only one I've seen built. The builders claim that it has enough power to hover at half throttle but the only video shows it tethered, probably because of stability and control issues.
I thought I saw a Korean one too. They've done a lot of research on it for sure. Don't remember whether all I saw was models or also a video of one flying.
 
The major flaw in this idea is that they forgot to scale up the concept to take into account the 1000/1 density ratio between water and air.

If they build a prototype it will make a lot of noise and vibrations but it will not move by an inch, a bit like these old and funny movies from the early 1900's when people came up with all kinds of crazy ideas to build flying machines...

--Luc
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz7SQ1nb4HQ
 
The recent post on Bauhaus Luftfahrt led me to this brief description of a VTOL aircraft using Voith-Schneider propellers and the attached image on their web site.

The 2D Propulsor

One of the innovative technologies devised by Bauhaus Luftfahrt originates in a completely different discipline, namely shipping. The Voith-Schneider propulsion system with its vertical axis of rotation has been used on ships for over eighty years. The Voith-Schneider propeller (VSP) is fitted with blades that protrude vertically into the water, rotate around a fixed point and can be adjusted individually.

The fact that the VSP propulsion system produces thrust and is therefore suitable for use in aviation is nothing new, but Bauhaus Luftfahrt has added a rotating cylin-der in the middle of the VSP blades to generate additional lift. The think tank has already patented this new propulsion system and the resulting aircraft design is a completely new type of helicopter on which the conventional rotor blades are re-placed by four laterally extending paddle-wheels.

This was all news to me, so I was also pleased to find this great interactive demo of how a Voith-Schneider propeller actually works.

Now the kicker--does anyone know of any previous projects which applied the Voith-Schneider propeller to aircraft and how that worked out? They might just as well be "Early Aircraft Projects" since the VSP is over 80 years old and might also be listed under "cycloidal drive" or, presumably, a "cycloidal rotor."

Cheers,

Matthew
The information is very interesting. Many thanks to the author. Please give a link to the source from where you took the image of this cyclogyro. V2.jpg
 

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