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.
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 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