Maryland's Defense Patent Database

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Advanced blade sections for high speed propellers

Patent image
NSWCCD

A method and apparatus is directed towards an advanced blade section for propellers that allow watercrafts to effectively travel in both sub-cavitating and super-cavitating modes. The advanced blade section includes a streamlined profile having a convex upper surface and a lower surface that includes both a convex portion and a concave portion. When the propellers are rotated in a first direction at low speeds to propel the watercraft in the forward direction, the advanced blade section experiences a fully wetted flow over both the upper and lower surfaces at low speeds. At high speeds, the advanced blade section experiences a partially wetted flow, with only a front part of the lower surface being fully wetted, at high speeds. When the propellers are rotated in a second direction opposite the first direction to reduce the speed of the watercraft, the blade section experiences a substantially wetted flow over both upper and lower surfaces.

Inventors: 
Shen, Young T.; Black, Scott D.; Jessup, Stuart D.
Patent Number: 
Technical domain: 
Handling and Transportation
FIle Date: 
2007-09-05
Grant Date: 
2009-04-14
Grant time: 
587 days
Grant time percentile rank: 
10
Claim count percentile rank: 
5
Citations percentile rank: 
1
'Cited by' percentile rank: 
1
Assignee: 
US NAVY