Research and development of variable pitch propeller mechanism in unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract

Recently, a fixed pitch propeller is generally used for a small type electric unmanned aerial vehicle with fixed wings and unmanned Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) in general. On the other hand, when a variable pitch propeller can be applied, propulsion performance is greatly improved, it can be expected that flight performance such as cruise will be greatly improved. However, at present, there are problems in miniaturizing and lightening of the mechanism using the variable pitch propeller, and it cannot generally be used. Therefore, in this research we aim to develop design technologies to overcome these problems. As an immediate goal, it is assumed to be applied in an electric Quad Tilt Wing VTOL (weights 25 kg) which is subjecting research and development in Shizuoka prefecture and JAXA. Weight reduction design of prototype and bench performance evaluation of the new prototype attached to a wing have been carried out. In this paper, we will investigate the weight reduction of the variable pitch propeller mechanism by using CFRP, and visualized the variable pitch operation while the variable pitch propeller is rotating.