It was so much fun having a chance to design my prop for this competition and flex some of the aero engineering muscles from uni. Can't wait for round 2 :). Most of the bugs in my design workflow and software were ironed out during this round, so there is nothing stopping me from placing top 3 next time! Congratulations to Spanmaxxing, Bigger (Diameter) is better, and Prandtl-DAE!!!
@@DC_DC_DC_DC While it would be a fun project and a fantastic video idea, the lakes near me have a visibility of -2 feet and my free time right now is being eaten up by another RC project. I'll give it some thought though! Thanks
@@dominiq4343 I'm not opposed to it. It would be my first time making videos of any sort. And I would have to work around a full time job. Though, it might help to keep me working on my projects with some level of consistency lol. BTW, the project I'm attempting right now is to design and build a scale model F-18 HARV from scratch (flight controller too, down to the pcb).
That's nothing. I once saw a kid put his rucksack in a dog shit, then proceeded to put it on his back. His reaction was the funniest thing I've ever seen!
That the toroidal is so much quieter while matching the performance of the baseline is actually a big positive if you think about it. Reducing noise and thus potentially vibrations could be quite the big implication for some applications.
hi mdsign, have you become a flat earther yet? If not I suggest viewing the 13 part series _what on earth happened_ in my about to learn how the earth is not a globe
@@flat-earther that's an old theory, I have a new one, THE EARTH IS CYLINDRICAL SHAPE.... !!!! That is both flat and round at the same time. Think about it.....cars have cylinders. Mindblowing.....
Variable pitch propellers are actually kinda common on fish trawlers, which need to operate at two speeds efficiently: The travel speed and the harvesting speed. This also helps with maneuvering, as they can seamlessly switch between forward and backward operating in fractions of a second and thus can keep the boat stationary at a certain location (if they got a bow thruster). So deep sea diving boats have also often also have variable pitch propellers, which can sometimes freely rotate. But the pinnacle of maneuverability - sometimes used on tug boats - is clearly the Voith Schneider Propeller. But it's also pretty inefficient - for obvious reasons. *BUT* they have a low acoustic signature - as they don't have any cavitation, as they don't have tips (there's a thrust plate at the bottom). :)
They're also common on larger motor-sailing yachts where they will vary the pitch to maximize the amount of power they can get from the sails whilst still maintaining a reasonable speed, or they can feather them entirely whilst using only sail power.
They are also used on gas turbine ships. Since turbines only spin in one direction, the only way to get reverse is to reverse the pitch of the prop. Ask me how I know what's it like when the pump fails on that blade and the turbine is spun up to full power.....
33:50 Military ships often have variable pitch propellers. Arleigh Burke class for example, and the props are huuuuge. And they have a bubbler system too to mask prop noise.
Great example of needing to run at different speeds, I guess. I imagine that sometimes they want to move somewhat efficiently so they don't guzzle their oilers empty too quickly and sometimes they need to haul ass to dodge that torp or get somewhere yesterday stat.
Back in the day the Type 42 destroyer used to have CPP. One of the reasons we had cpp was to allow reverse thrust, without having to make a gearbox able to reverse the shafts.
@@authordent41 Nah, they're called Prairie Maskers which make ships sound more like rain to submarines. You are thinking of hull ventilation which is used on some extremely fast boats.
Great episode! Thanks Daniel for using our template, helping expose the HAVF airfoil format, and being so patient with our first foray into marine propellers! I love the content!
the reason why Fibonnacci prop came at bottom is that it is designed to generate max energy from flow, meaning it's a generator, turbine prop not the thruster prop. if you put that golden ratio prop on boat and replace sail with that it will generate max amount of energy per sqm. and if you connect it directly to the shaft of water prop then you will have the fastest most energy efficient wind boat that can outperform any standard sailboat(nonfoil). 100% I am building that!
Thanks for these videos. I tried out spanmaxxing for a DIY aquarium flow pump and was blown away with how much water flow was being produced. Fewer flow pumps can be used now to support the live corals in the aquarium. Thanks again for sharing.
@@UnapersonaconunmicroscopioThe conclusion of this series was that each propeller has to be optimized for the power source and speed of the vessel. If James did this test, it would be for a particular motor and aircraft. It seems a bit pointless. If you ask me, I want James to do more speed record attempts!
I think there's a few problems with tubercles. In nature they're strongest on the side fins rather than the tail fin, which often won't even have any. Essentially they're more useful on the whale's "rudder" than the whales "propeller". Which might key us in to their actual purpose. Further, whales are not speedsters. While a blue whale CAN hit 30mph they're usual pace is 4-12 mph. While the boat in these tests is within that range, the propellers are moving fast enough to "reverse" in the camera meaning they're rotating at a pretty serious clip. So the tubercles that are usually on the steering part of a slow animal are being placed on a high speed propulsion part. Somewhere nature simply never intended them to be. Even more, they're not made for this kind of motion in nature. Even when the whale is zooming the tubercles on the tail are going up and down (changing direction) with slow downs and even stops. But on a propeller it's just a constant rotation in one direction. If tubercles do offer an advantage to boats it'll probably be on the body or the rudder.
I think there has been some success with the tubercles as a wavy leading edge on plane wings, specifically in that it makes it harder to stall. The idea is that the wing has a variable chord so the stall happens gradually across the wing instead of suddenly from one end. This is the same reasoning behind Dog Teeth (or Leading Edge Cuffs) and Wing Washout (or an axial twist) on some planes, which actually just has a different stall speed on different parts of the wing, so stall happens on just one part of the wing and more evenly between wings. Also a feature of Dog Teeth, and often added to normal wings, are Vortex Generators and Wing Fences, which can prevent a stall from propagating along the wing, and also help spanwise flow separation in swept back wings. All of these anti-stall techniques may be generated with tubercles, and it makes sense that the flippers get more of them; in order to manoeuvre quickly, you need a high amount of possible lift in several directions, and a sustained reliable amount because taking another stroke takes a long time. The tail can be angled to prevent a stall, but the flippers need every degree of angle to turn quickly. In conclusion, I fully agree with the sentiment that tubercles don't belong on propellers and instead belong on manoeuvring surfaces. I had though I had seen a helicopter with wavy leading edges on it's rotors, but I can't find it. F1 cars nearly use this in their wings, very interesting look nonetheless.
You can isolate the propeller efficiency from the rest of the system by using shaft power as the metric. Torque times rotational velocity. Torque is proportional to current so using phase amps x rpm will give better prop comparisons. You also eliminate losses in the esc this way.
As a maritime engineer with experience on model tests of propellers, this is very interesting. The different aspects of propeller design are nicely shown and discussed here. As for the cavitation, the large propellers are more prone to it due to the high tip speeds. When doing model tests with roughly similar sized propellers than tested here, the pressure of the test section is lowered to 20-40% of the atmospheric pressure to match the cavitation of a full-scale propeller.
This is interesting indeed, i miss a traditional hub variable pitched version in the line-up. Pretty sure that is the way to go, as one does need a gearbox for reverse as the blades are just flipped.
The sound analysis was really cool, and one would think that a less noisy propellor with a good integral efficiency must be a result of less cavitation/bubbles. Spanmaxxing sounded rather clean
the thing am curious about is how much sound there is depending on the angle, like, its probably a radically different volume between in front of the ship or from the size or behind it
Yep I've got a 3 blade R/C aircraft prop on the 55lb thrust trolling motor on my electrified paddle/pedal boat. Increases current draw, doubles speed. I appreciate this channel, however I should point out that the ads are louder than the baseline audio gain, you might want to bump up your audio gain in order to lessen the jarring effect on the viewer of the noticeably louder ads.
@@nealstephensonhiro72 sure made by Windsor Propeller Company it is a 3 blade pusher, T3871P is stamped on it, also T15704. The blades measure 7 1/2" to center, it is large. It is in their catalog. Wiring should be better than 10g. At low power settings it is efficient and fast. Running it at max power things heat up and curiously do not result in more speed. Your mileage may vary - I'll share it for 'pseudoscience' let's say as any wind has a pronounced effect on my big square craft making precise measurements suspect. Snow Crash! :)
Contender-25 is realy intresting one, same diameter with baseline, but as big top speed as spanmaxxing is great result i think if there will be another competition, you should limit maximum diameter at baseline propellers diameter, so it will be competition of form, not size
Contender-25 did have the greatest efficiency at higher speeds than the other 34 designs I tested, which is the main reason that it beat out the others. Though, I never considered 2 blade props, I only stuck with 3, so I was kicking myself when I saw the other 2 blade props lol. But seeing that top speed in the results was a great feeling. If there is a second propeller competition, most of the bugs are worked out in my design workflow and software, and I have new ideas :)
It's too bad there aren't any living organisms with propellers to have natural selection choose the best design. Maybe we need a mad scientist to get on that and we can check in on the results a few million years from now... We may need a time machine for that.
@@speedstrn We can run genetic algorithms on our computers still although they don’t always result in the most optimal solution in real life as shown in the video
I owned a 21' open bow boat used for pulling skiers, tubers, wake boarders, & knee boarders. It had a "Torque Shift" variable pitch prop the was great for getting skiers out of the water fast & a much faster cruise than a lower pitch prop could provide. It's only problem was exactly what you stated, living underwater the shift mechanism was constantly needing to be cleaned. Thanks for providing me with even more items I feel like I need to 3D print!
Grew up racing planing hull boats, and we always ran the centerline of the prop around 12-18mm below the water. The best explanation I have is due to drag of the gearbox and fin. Also running at 100mph.
It depends heavily on the type of boat/hull what is the best height. Yes, it is indeed done as good as exclusively because of lessening drag. Some boat classes have a regulation height of prop shaft measured from bottom of the hull.
i honestly know literaly nothing about design, engineering, mechanics, and watercraft, but these have been so entertaining and informative that it doesnt really matter much. i want to see you review rc dirigible propellers now. and im aware those probably dont exist. but if they did, id love for you to review them.
If you like this style of engineering content (even if you don't fully understand it) search on TH-cam for: this old tony, applied science, and nile red. There are many others, but that is a good start.
US Navy ships use variable pitch propellers, they pitch all the way around allowing the propeller to achieve forward and reverse thrust while only spinning one direction
Not only are ship props designed for a set speed, their bows are too. The bulbous bow is designed to decrease bow inefficiency at a set speed. Outside of that speed the bow might actually increase inefficiency. Maybe the next design competition is bow shape?
Ah man, the bending! The bane of my existence! Maybe 4 blades would work better, to split the load between them and reduce the bending, but whether it would be more or less efficient would probably depend on the motor. But no matter, this was the first time I did this kind of CFD, and I learnt a lot! Luckily, thanks to this competition, I have plenty of data to validate my CFD against, which will allow me to fine-tune my simulations further, and next time I'm coming back for revenge! ... maybe you could get a metal 3d printer for the next round? :) Anyway, this comp really was a blast, and I couldn't wait for each episode. I really hope there's more to come in the future, there's more than just my reputation on the line!
Kamewa has made variable pitch propellers for like 80 years and they are considered very reliable. We had them on some boats when i did my military service.
We had 3 different props for our 18 foot Starcraft Aluminum fishing boat, running a Johnson 115 hp outboard. 1) "Power" prop: This one was a full diameter shallow pitch 3-blade prop, designed to give a great "hole shot" to get the boat up out of the water quickly and onto plane as fast as possible. We used it for water skiing to get people up out of the water in deep water starts, and for the most efficient trolling for downrigger fishing. 2) Standard prop: this was a full diameter standard pitch 3-blade prop with slightly "fatter/ wider" blades that came with the motor as OEM fitment. It was only okay at everything, but made it a lot of work to lift out a skiier and trolled slightly too fast at lowest (idle) engine rpm. Once we had the other 2 props, this became the "backup/ rock " prop in case of emergencies and was left in the stowage locker on board. 3) "Speed" prop: Dad bought this smaller diameter 4-blade prop with a steep pitch and aggressive cut-profile blades for going to northern lakes with long arms/ inlets/ distant bays for fishing , i.e. Lake Temagami, Ontario. Hardly any trolling except for shallower water fish that were fast and aggressive, and a terrible "hole shot" ( we all used to have to stand at the very front of the floor at the console to help it finally plane-out... but top speed was easily 10 mph faster than the power prop, which got him to and from fishing holes in less time. It was almost impossible to ski behind, unless you liked being dragged to the point of muscle collapse before you got out of the water on your ski(s). We had hoped it would give us enough speed to barefoot ski...but, based on the numerous hilarious and somewhat painful or embarrassing wipeouts we all experienced in tryring, it just couldn't get us up to the required speed. Also, if we were slalom skiing, if you pulled back against the boat hard enough, you could slow it down... a lot... Definitely not the case with the "Power Prop"... it just kept on going forward like you were barely there. Loved this series of videos. Thanks so much for doing these. So many surprises, and a few " Called-it"'s too. Many cool designs. Keep up the good work and the science of it all.
If it's any consolation, I've had a prop here and a fan over on Major Hardware. Contender-25 here, and the Tick-Tock Clock fan that he showed in a special episode lol.
What I love about this is that it's ingenuity and playing around with ideas by people- THIS is the testing and innovation every hardware should have from passionate and interested users.
Your videos are awesome man. Thanks to everyone who worked hard on the designs. Thank you for being so committed to getting as accurate results as you can, even to the point of rerunning tests and discarding what was probably hours of work (the underwater sound). Thank you!
The 'mist' from the cavitation on the APC propeller is probably residual gases other than H2O which are staying in solution with the water as gas when the H2O vapor collapses. That's my theory -- dissolved atmospheric N2, O2, etc., failing to redissolve instantly. You've shaken some of the tiny amount of natural fizz out of the water. 'Fish hate this one trick.'
@@martindinner3621 I wanna say it was something the Slowmo Guys or Hydraulic Press Channel were doing with cavitation where I saw the effect, or maybe Mythbusters twenty years ago??
Thanks for a very interesting video. A sidenote: I've been involded in some research into noice and marine life. You're correct in saying that most marine mammals don't like noice and might be harmed or driven to beaching (though sonar is way worse), quite a lot of fish is actually attracted to it. That does not mean it's healthy for the fish, so the noice should ofc be minimised. Oh, and one more thing: We assumed that seismic mapping would be the most harmful to marine life. Turned out it wasn't that big of a deal and produced less response than propellers. Though again, it's easier to test on fish than mammals - my guess is that it will affect mammals, but we did not find ill effects in our studies.
What a great series! I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about and, really, no interest in props, but I have absolutely loved this series. Great job!
I wonder if you applied on the propellers a hydrophobic coating or different types of coatings and texture will have any performance increases. I know on hulls it doesn't, but on a propellers it might actually be a benefit....
Interesting that the top prop (Friendship Systems x Airshaper) matched my first gut instinct when you started all this. Straight blade near the center where the blade speed relative to the water was slower, swept blade near the tips where the relative speed is higher. Also, most of us are used to car motors, where we (mostly) don't have to worry about the motor's peak efficiency RPM. Because it's connected to a transmission that tries to keep the motor in or near that peak RPM range regardless of load or speed. So a boat motor (or plane or RC vehicle motor) introduces new variables which we're not used to from driving a car.
Funny you should say that, because even with the transmission, car motors are rarely kept at the best fuel efficency range. Throttle opening is much too low and the rpm is also also not optimal, if one thinks about least fuel consumer per watt output. The ECU does what it can of course, but there are significant gains to be had. However, because of how people drive cars and customer demands, there really is little other choice. In general a much smaller capacity engine would be beneficial.
This whole series has been *fascinating!* Thank you for putting in all the effort. And congrats to all contestants and the winners. Also, your humor is right up my alley! I laughed my arse off with the massive birdshit incident and the super quick "I'm peeing" cut. lol
That drone guy is awesome! Edit: Man I ran out of time yesterday and only watched to like 31 minutes. I think the tug boat tour is the most surpreme form of narrating and giving thoughts, while Daniels POV was very cool to see!
I love your videos. Currently finishing my bachelor in material science and engineering and coming across some of the phaenomena you are dealing with. I am so happy to see the somewhat scientific approach you take and explain the different topics and aspects. Looking forward to your next videos and maybe I might be able to submit to the next competition.
My prop did so poorly! I really thought it would do much better than that. Notwithstanding, I really liked the video. Keep up the good work Dan and thank you for the opportunity. I'll be sure to try again next year if you do it again!
Once again, you have out done yourself. This was such a huge amount of work that you did. I love your ability to see the beauty in those vortices. I used to be involved in this collegiate solar/electric boat competition called Solar Splash. There was a boat from Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan that was a hydrofoil. A truly amazing design and its propeller was very much like an airplane prop. They won the competition that year.
I used to be a marine tech and really enjoyed this series i also learned a good bit more about props from this. Its funny that the boat you most see adjustable props on were normally sail boats to gain better sailing efficiency so that the blades could sit perpendicular to the flow of water making less drag. Like you said most boats are using the fact that an engines power range is normally at a certain rpm so they shoot for that rpm for the props specs. Good series man keep up the cool and interesting videos. Who knew that a kid making bomb dropping cargo condor would evolve into the stuff your doing now.
i have not a shit clue about anything about propellers or boats, but damn if i wasnt glued to the screen for ep 1 and 2, as soon as i saw 3 it was a must watch! thank you for the time and energy you put in these videos dawg you deserve success frfr (my neighbors can hear me audibly cheering for propellers that beat the base lmao)
Well done for the entire test series! It was a joy to watch even for someone not part of this particular hobby space. Also the static thrust cavitation view was pretty awesome!
Super fun to watch! I really enjoyed seeing the variety of props tested as well as your commitment to capturing good data. I’d love to see a series about ducted props (Kaplan propellers and kort nozzles), as well as submarine style props, which must have some wild engineering and would be cool to explore in detail.
I enjoy watching your videos and this series especially where you have encouraged submissions from others. Just the quick assumptions you make prior to testing are indicative of the depth of rational and logical application. If something fails you explain why, if your methods show potential failure of bias you are smart enough to overcome and explain why so we all learn. Keep doing what you are doing, it doesn't mean much as I'm a total stranger I am both glad and proud there are people on this planet that have knowledge and and both humble and curious enough the ask the question "What if" or "How can I improve". Keep being awesome I wish you and your channel every success.
I would rework the hull to accomodate the camera internally with a window. I totally agree that your little camera rig is totally adding drag and changing the images vs the test results. Awesome series🤙
33:40 A legitimate marine application for "variable" pitch propellers are the folding propellers used on sailboats. These unfold when under power, but fold under sail to reduce drag.
Great video series man! Damn, so wish I could CAD... The winner will be the one to use the properties of the material, to change shape at the right time/load/conditions. But it will not standout on the graph... To better understand Cavitation vs Thrust, you a load sensor above the water line. DIY one in about 30minutes.
I think that autonomous solar powered tugboat was one of the first videos I saw from this channel. Absolutely loved it.... even though I live in a desert!
Whoa! Outstanding sequence of research! You are only posting films on a casual basis that include significantly more study than many bachelor theses combined.
This is a great video! As he points out, the main reason for boat propellers having lower aspect ratios and more blades than air props is due to a combination of practical diameter limits and the cavitation limit of the prop for a given depth and power. A high efficiency, lightweight boat such as a solar powered electric drivetrain with low drag and a power limitation does, in fact, perform best with a low blade count, high aspect propeller
Man, this is an amazing series. Like just getting the sense of what is most efficient, low noise and all other fundamentals beginning designing propellers. We had a 10kW motor with a b-series prop on test. I started designing a prop very like the spanmaxxung but with 5 blades and whoa, the system efficiency just went up by 30% on our first try! Now we "just" need to get rid of some apparent tvc.
Great series, I really enjoyed it. I look forward to future competitions, this and Major Hardwares fan showdown are really interesting, I like that ppl try serious efficient designs while others try unconventional designs.
The Sea-Shanty in the end was worth the wait BIG TIME , love the things you choose are not just props for your Video but real life objects of interest you share… Yea here it was props… see what I … ok… I‘ll see myself out…
Great videos! One propeller size fits most is basically the big take away here. There is apparently a reason why most propellers for boats looks the same when they're for similar sized vessels.
Real data. respect. That was a serious endevour with scarryly interesting results, that no-one beat the aircraft long blade design . or even the cfd hours came no-where close.
Props to this guy....
Ha
Haha nice
Someone had to say it
you mean Poop ? birdpoop... ?
I sea what you did there
It was so much fun having a chance to design my prop for this competition and flex some of the aero engineering muscles from uni. Can't wait for round 2 :). Most of the bugs in my design workflow and software were ironed out during this round, so there is nothing stopping me from placing top 3 next time! Congratulations to Spanmaxxing, Bigger (Diameter) is better, and Prandtl-DAE!!!
You should start testing irl yourself and send your footage to be featured!!
@@DC_DC_DC_DC While it would be a fun project and a fantastic video idea, the lakes near me have a visibility of -2 feet and my free time right now is being eaten up by another RC project. I'll give it some thought though! Thanks
@@contrail52would you be intrested in making videos of your projects? I would love to see your ideas.
@@dominiq4343 I'm not opposed to it. It would be my first time making videos of any sort. And I would have to work around a full time job. Though, it might help to keep me working on my projects with some level of consistency lol.
BTW, the project I'm attempting right now is to design and build a scale model F-18 HARV from scratch (flight controller too, down to the pcb).
@@contrail52I wrote to you on thingiverse, you can see my message😅
The honorable mention for this video is the bird who bombed you in stealth mode.
Yeah, he should find it and model a prop from it. Silent but deadly
@@dadsfriendlyrobotcompany That bird has surely mastered laminar flow.
That's nothing. I once saw a kid put his rucksack in a dog shit, then proceeded to put it on his back. His reaction was the funniest thing I've ever seen!
better the back than the head
It was the duck he bullied a while back.
That the toroidal is so much quieter while matching the performance of the baseline is actually a big positive if you think about it. Reducing noise and thus potentially vibrations could be quite the big implication for some applications.
It's good for the fishies too
@@BarackLesnar And therefore also for fishing.
i like the side story about the drone owner
Odds that it was stolen?
@@Toolingabouti mean that was a black guy so what do you expect
@@Toolingabout I'd say pretty high.
@@vegasu9418 lmao
@@Toolingabout Racist
Can't believe I'm actually excited to see a THIRD episode on propellers!
hi mdsign, have you become a flat earther yet? If not I suggest watching _Level with Me (2023)_ by Hibbeler Productions
hi mdsign, have you become a flat earther yet? If not I suggest viewing the 13 part series _what on earth happened_ in my about to learn how the earth is not a globe
@@flat-earther that's an old theory, I have a new one, THE EARTH IS CYLINDRICAL SHAPE.... !!!! That is both flat and round at the same time. Think about it.....cars have cylinders. Mindblowing.....
@@dosendaringwhat the fuck is going on😂
I've been watching the computer fan showdown for 4 years now. Never thought that would have so much pull!
Variable pitch propellers are actually kinda common on fish trawlers, which need to operate at two speeds efficiently: The travel speed and the harvesting speed. This also helps with maneuvering, as they can seamlessly switch between forward and backward operating in fractions of a second and thus can keep the boat stationary at a certain location (if they got a bow thruster).
So deep sea diving boats have also often also have variable pitch propellers, which can sometimes freely rotate.
But the pinnacle of maneuverability - sometimes used on tug boats - is clearly the Voith Schneider Propeller. But it's also pretty inefficient - for obvious reasons. *BUT* they have a low acoustic signature - as they don't have any cavitation, as they don't have tips (there's a thrust plate at the bottom). :)
They're also common on larger motor-sailing yachts where they will vary the pitch to maximize the amount of power they can get from the sails whilst still maintaining a reasonable speed, or they can feather them entirely whilst using only sail power.
Such cool different design
Voith Schneidy propeller?
* Furious typing *
Cyclorotor‽ Wow!
They are also used on gas turbine ships. Since turbines only spin in one direction, the only way to get reverse is to reverse the pitch of the prop. Ask me how I know what's it like when the pump fails on that blade and the turbine is spun up to full power.....
Those Voith props would break many peoples mind. Especially when they're used to to move the thrust around the tug.
33:50 Military ships often have variable pitch propellers. Arleigh Burke class for example, and the props are huuuuge. And they have a bubbler system too to mask prop noise.
Great example of needing to run at different speeds, I guess. I imagine that sometimes they want to move somewhat efficiently so they don't guzzle their oilers empty too quickly and sometimes they need to haul ass to dodge that torp or get somewhere yesterday stat.
@@Kenionatus Actually, at least for planes, also because airstream velocity cancels out blade pitch to an extend.
Back in the day the Type 42 destroyer used to have CPP. One of the reasons we had cpp was to allow reverse thrust, without having to make a gearbox able to reverse the shafts.
To reduce hull friction
@@authordent41 Nah, they're called Prairie Maskers which make ships sound more like rain to submarines. You are thinking of hull ventilation which is used on some extremely fast boats.
Great episode! Thanks Daniel for using our template, helping expose the HAVF airfoil format, and being so patient with our first foray into marine propellers! I love the content!
Thanks for testing my poorly proposed prop! Nice touch with the Sea shanty lyrics
Obligatory "that's not really a sea shanty, because it doesn't have the work/rest structure". Wellerman is still an awesome song though
the reason why Fibonnacci prop came at bottom is that it is designed to generate max energy from flow, meaning it's a generator, turbine prop not the thruster prop. if you put that golden ratio prop on boat and replace sail with that it will generate max amount of energy per sqm. and if you connect it directly to the shaft of water prop then you will have the fastest most energy efficient wind boat that can outperform any standard sailboat(nonfoil). 100% I am building that!
38 min video to kick off the friday, Daniel you know the way to a man's heart
Released just in time for my lunch break, perfect timing.
Thanks for these videos. I tried out spanmaxxing for a DIY aquarium flow pump and was blown away with how much water flow was being produced. Fewer flow pumps can be used now to support the live corals in the aquarium. Thanks again for sharing.
A showdown for the ages 🙌
You could do similar testing but on air instead of water
Yeah that would be a really cool video because your view can participate
real, if possible it would be cool to see you do a verison of this.
@@UnapersonaconunmicroscopioThe conclusion of this series was that each propeller has to be optimized for the power source and speed of the vessel. If James did this test, it would be for a particular motor and aircraft. It seems a bit pointless. If you ask me, I want James to do more speed record attempts!
Oh shit it’s project air!
This confirms he is using us to make the most efficient solar tug boat yet
I know far more about propellers than I ever wanted to know, and my life is immeasurably better for it
I think there's a few problems with tubercles.
In nature they're strongest on the side fins rather than the tail fin, which often won't even have any. Essentially they're more useful on the whale's "rudder" than the whales "propeller". Which might key us in to their actual purpose.
Further, whales are not speedsters. While a blue whale CAN hit 30mph they're usual pace is 4-12 mph. While the boat in these tests is within that range, the propellers are moving fast enough to "reverse" in the camera meaning they're rotating at a pretty serious clip.
So the tubercles that are usually on the steering part of a slow animal are being placed on a high speed propulsion part. Somewhere nature simply never intended them to be.
Even more, they're not made for this kind of motion in nature. Even when the whale is zooming the tubercles on the tail are going up and down (changing direction) with slow downs and even stops. But on a propeller it's just a constant rotation in one direction.
If tubercles do offer an advantage to boats it'll probably be on the body or the rudder.
I think there has been some success with the tubercles as a wavy leading edge on plane wings, specifically in that it makes it harder to stall. The idea is that the wing has a variable chord so the stall happens gradually across the wing instead of suddenly from one end. This is the same reasoning behind Dog Teeth (or Leading Edge Cuffs) and Wing Washout (or an axial twist) on some planes, which actually just has a different stall speed on different parts of the wing, so stall happens on just one part of the wing and more evenly between wings.
Also a feature of Dog Teeth, and often added to normal wings, are Vortex Generators and Wing Fences, which can prevent a stall from propagating along the wing, and also help spanwise flow separation in swept back wings.
All of these anti-stall techniques may be generated with tubercles, and it makes sense that the flippers get more of them; in order to manoeuvre quickly, you need a high amount of possible lift in several directions, and a sustained reliable amount because taking another stroke takes a long time. The tail can be angled to prevent a stall, but the flippers need every degree of angle to turn quickly.
In conclusion, I fully agree with the sentiment that tubercles don't belong on propellers and instead belong on manoeuvring surfaces. I had though I had seen a helicopter with wavy leading edges on it's rotors, but I can't find it. F1 cars nearly use this in their wings, very interesting look nonetheless.
You can isolate the propeller efficiency from the rest of the system by using shaft power as the metric. Torque times rotational velocity. Torque is proportional to current so using phase amps x rpm will give better prop comparisons. You also eliminate losses in the esc this way.
Wow! Brilliant research series!
You are just casually uploading videos with _far_ more research content than many bachelor thesis out there.
This tickles a tism I didn't know i had.
whats the A stand for?
@@Sandux930'tism is a shortening of "autism", the 'a' isn't short for anything.
Literally same here
every guy loves a boat
@@zachmoyer1849 Autistic people aren't necessarily guys
The acapella at the end is 🔥!
As a maritime engineer with experience on model tests of propellers, this is very interesting. The different aspects of propeller design are nicely shown and discussed here. As for the cavitation, the large propellers are more prone to it due to the high tip speeds. When doing model tests with roughly similar sized propellers than tested here, the pressure of the test section is lowered to 20-40% of the atmospheric pressure to match the cavitation of a full-scale propeller.
This is interesting indeed, i miss a traditional hub variable pitched version in the line-up. Pretty sure that is the way to go, as one does need a gearbox for reverse as the blades are just flipped.
The sound analysis was really cool, and one would think that a less noisy propellor with a good integral efficiency must be a result of less cavitation/bubbles. Spanmaxxing sounded rather clean
the thing am curious about is how much sound there is depending on the angle, like, its probably a radically different volume between in front of the ship or from the size or behind it
Yep I've got a 3 blade R/C aircraft prop on the 55lb thrust trolling motor on my electrified paddle/pedal boat. Increases current draw, doubles speed. I appreciate this channel, however I should point out that the ads are louder than the baseline audio gain, you might want to bump up your audio gain in order to lessen the jarring effect on the viewer of the noticeably louder ads.
Hiya! For science would you share the exact prop ( maker, diameter and pitch) please
@@nealstephensonhiro72 sure made by Windsor Propeller Company it is a 3 blade pusher, T3871P is stamped on it, also T15704. The blades measure 7 1/2" to center, it is large. It is in their catalog. Wiring should be better than 10g. At low power settings it is efficient and fast. Running it at max power things heat up and curiously do not result in more speed. Your mileage may vary - I'll share it for 'pseudoscience' let's say as any wind has a pronounced effect on my big square craft making precise measurements suspect. Snow Crash! :)
@@RoofAndAMeal4UsAll thanks for your reply! Yes loved Snow Crash ages ago and it influenced my YT name choice haha
@32:20 Daniel's Thoughts From A Weird Vehicle is my new favorite segment.
Contender-25 is realy intresting one, same diameter with baseline, but as big top speed as spanmaxxing is great result
i think if there will be another competition, you should limit maximum diameter at baseline propellers diameter, so it will be competition of form, not size
Contender-25 did have the greatest efficiency at higher speeds than the other 34 designs I tested, which is the main reason that it beat out the others. Though, I never considered 2 blade props, I only stuck with 3, so I was kicking myself when I saw the other 2 blade props lol. But seeing that top speed in the results was a great feeling. If there is a second propeller competition, most of the bugs are worked out in my design workflow and software, and I have new ideas :)
Awesome stuff!
I come for the video……and stay for the outro song❤
"Next I've got these human growth propellers from a science lab, these were actually designed on the backs of real human beings."
Thought Imporium has entered the chat
It's too bad there aren't any living organisms with propellers to have natural selection choose the best design. Maybe we need a mad scientist to get on that and we can check in on the results a few million years from now... We may need a time machine for that.
@@speedstrn We can run genetic algorithms on our computers still although they don’t always result in the most optimal solution in real life as shown in the video
@@aleksihiltunen7063 Yeah, evolutionary algorithms only really select for the nearest best not the absolute best.
Island of Dr. Moreau enters the chat
Thank you for helping us validate our design methodology with this real world test. Hopefully the next one flies (soon)
Congrats! Hopefully I'll get to see another one of your designs in a possible round 2.
This has been amazing! Thanks to you and the people who made submissions. It's been a great contribution to the vidnet!
I owned a 21' open bow boat used for pulling skiers, tubers, wake boarders, & knee boarders. It had a "Torque Shift" variable pitch prop the was great for getting skiers out of the water fast & a much faster cruise than a lower pitch prop could provide. It's only problem was exactly what you stated, living underwater the shift mechanism was constantly needing to be cleaned. Thanks for providing me with even more items I feel like I need to 3D print!
Grew up racing planing hull boats, and we always ran the centerline of the prop around 12-18mm below the water. The best explanation I have is due to drag of the gearbox and fin. Also running at 100mph.
It depends heavily on the type of boat/hull what is the best height. Yes, it is indeed done as good as exclusively because of lessening drag. Some boat classes have a regulation height of prop shaft measured from bottom of the hull.
And this introduces surface piercing props!
i honestly know literaly nothing about design, engineering, mechanics, and watercraft, but these have been so entertaining and informative that it doesnt really matter much. i want to see you review rc dirigible propellers now. and im aware those probably dont exist. but if they did, id love for you to review them.
If you like this style of engineering content (even if you don't fully understand it) search on TH-cam for: this old tony, applied science, and nile red. There are many others, but that is a good start.
US Navy ships use variable pitch propellers, they pitch all the way around allowing the propeller to achieve forward and reverse thrust while only spinning one direction
SUCH a good series! I bet you're sooooo happy this is over and done with. We really appreciate the countless hours of work you've put in.
Not only are ship props designed for a set speed, their bows are too. The bulbous bow is designed to decrease bow inefficiency at a set speed. Outside of that speed the bow might actually increase inefficiency.
Maybe the next design competition is bow shape?
Rocket nozzles are optimized at a specific altitude
Well. Ambient air pressure
Seriously one of the best channels on youtube if you like learning stuff, and also learning how to learn stuff.
Blesa that man's heart who taught his brother an important life lesson, never sell when you're desperate
Ah man, the bending! The bane of my existence!
Maybe 4 blades would work better, to split the load between them and reduce the bending, but whether it would be more or less efficient would probably depend on the motor. But no matter, this was the first time I did this kind of CFD, and I learnt a lot! Luckily, thanks to this competition, I have plenty of data to validate my CFD against, which will allow me to fine-tune my simulations further, and next time I'm coming back for revenge! ... maybe you could get a metal 3d printer for the next round? :)
Anyway, this comp really was a blast, and I couldn't wait for each episode. I really hope there's more to come in the future, there's more than just my reputation on the line!
Kamewa has made variable pitch propellers for like 80 years and they are considered very reliable. We had them on some boats when i did my military service.
We had 3 different props for our 18 foot Starcraft Aluminum fishing boat, running a Johnson 115 hp outboard.
1) "Power" prop: This one was a full diameter shallow pitch 3-blade prop, designed to give a great "hole shot" to get the boat up out of the water quickly and onto plane as fast as possible. We used it for water skiing to get people up out of the water in deep water starts, and for the most efficient trolling for downrigger fishing.
2) Standard prop: this was a full diameter standard pitch 3-blade prop with slightly "fatter/ wider" blades that came with the motor as OEM fitment. It was only okay at everything, but made it a lot of work to lift out a skiier and trolled slightly too fast at lowest (idle) engine rpm. Once we had the other 2 props, this became the "backup/ rock " prop in case of emergencies and was left in the stowage locker on board.
3) "Speed" prop: Dad bought this smaller diameter 4-blade prop with a steep pitch and aggressive cut-profile blades for going to northern lakes with long arms/ inlets/ distant bays for fishing , i.e. Lake Temagami, Ontario. Hardly any trolling except for shallower water fish that were fast and aggressive, and a terrible "hole shot" ( we all used to have to stand at the very front of the floor at the console to help it finally plane-out... but top speed was easily 10 mph faster than the power prop, which got him to and from fishing holes in less time. It was almost impossible to ski behind, unless you liked being dragged to the point of muscle collapse before you got out of the water on your ski(s). We had hoped it would give us enough speed to barefoot ski...but, based on the numerous hilarious and somewhat painful or embarrassing wipeouts we all experienced in tryring, it just couldn't get us up to the required speed. Also, if we were slalom skiing, if you pulled back against the boat hard enough, you could slow it down... a lot... Definitely not the case with the "Power Prop"... it just kept on going forward like you were barely there.
Loved this series of videos. Thanks so much for doing these. So many surprises, and a few " Called-it"'s too. Many cool designs. Keep up the good work and the science of it all.
Just when I say I'm going to turn in and go to sleep. Looks like I'm up for another half hour.
Hey there, we are back! This series took me by surprise, but I absolutely love its practical nature. Thanks a lot, this is really awesome!!
We need a crossover with the Fan Showdown from Major Hardware! 😁
If it's any consolation, I've had a prop here and a fan over on Major Hardware. Contender-25 here, and the Tick-Tock Clock fan that he showed in a special episode lol.
@@contrail52 Oh, it was so cool! Umm, what can I say, thanks for your contributions, major props to you, I'm a big fan :D
What I love about this is that it's ingenuity and playing around with ideas by people- THIS is the testing and innovation every hardware should have from passionate and interested users.
Great series, Onto self-guided submarine!
Your videos are awesome man. Thanks to everyone who worked hard on the designs. Thank you for being so committed to getting as accurate results as you can, even to the point of rerunning tests and discarding what was probably hours of work (the underwater sound). Thank you!
The 'mist' from the cavitation on the APC propeller is probably residual gases other than H2O which are staying in solution with the water as gas when the H2O vapor collapses. That's my theory -- dissolved atmospheric N2, O2, etc., failing to redissolve instantly. You've shaken some of the tiny amount of natural fizz out of the water. 'Fish hate this one trick.'
Sounds like a solid theory!
@@martindinner3621 I wanna say it was something the Slowmo Guys or Hydraulic Press Channel were doing with cavitation where I saw the effect, or maybe Mythbusters twenty years ago??
Thanks for a very interesting video.
A sidenote: I've been involded in some research into noice and marine life. You're correct in saying that most marine mammals don't like noice and might be harmed or driven to beaching (though sonar is way worse), quite a lot of fish is actually attracted to it.
That does not mean it's healthy for the fish, so the noice should ofc be minimised.
Oh, and one more thing: We assumed that seismic mapping would be the most harmful to marine life. Turned out it wasn't that big of a deal and produced less response than propellers. Though again, it's easier to test on fish than mammals - my guess is that it will affect mammals, but we did not find ill effects in our studies.
Maybe the whales have evolved to hate the sounds of propellers, if they fear the sound of propellers they will avoid getting hit by one.
What a great series! I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about and, really, no interest in props, but I have absolutely loved this series. Great job!
Would be nice to see these props tested on more powerful motors
I wonder if you applied on the propellers a hydrophobic coating or different types of coatings and texture will have any performance increases. I know on hulls it doesn't, but on a propellers it might actually be a benefit....
Interesting that the top prop (Friendship Systems x Airshaper) matched my first gut instinct when you started all this. Straight blade near the center where the blade speed relative to the water was slower, swept blade near the tips where the relative speed is higher.
Also, most of us are used to car motors, where we (mostly) don't have to worry about the motor's peak efficiency RPM. Because it's connected to a transmission that tries to keep the motor in or near that peak RPM range regardless of load or speed. So a boat motor (or plane or RC vehicle motor) introduces new variables which we're not used to from driving a car.
Funny you should say that, because even with the transmission, car motors are rarely kept at the best fuel efficency range. Throttle opening is much too low and the rpm is also also not optimal, if one thinks about least fuel consumer per watt output. The ECU does what it can of course, but there are significant gains to be had. However, because of how people drive cars and customer demands, there really is little other choice. In general a much smaller capacity engine would be beneficial.
This whole series has been *fascinating!* Thank you for putting in all the effort. And congrats to all contestants and the winners.
Also, your humor is right up my alley! I laughed my arse off with the massive birdshit incident and the super quick "I'm peeing" cut. lol
That drone guy is awesome!
Edit: Man I ran out of time yesterday and only watched to like 31 minutes. I think the tug boat tour is the most surpreme form of narrating and giving thoughts, while Daniels POV was very cool to see!
i love the b-plot
I love your videos. Currently finishing my bachelor in material science and engineering and coming across some of the phaenomena you are dealing with. I am so happy to see the somewhat scientific approach you take and explain the different topics and aspects. Looking forward to your next videos and maybe I might be able to submit to the next competition.
That dude low balled his brother for a drone wtf?
Loved the whole series of tests but the cherry on top is the song at the end!
My prop did so poorly! I really thought it would do much better than that. Notwithstanding, I really liked the video. Keep up the good work Dan and thank you for the opportunity. I'll be sure to try again next year if you do it again!
Once again, you have out done yourself. This was such a huge amount of work that you did. I love your ability to see the beauty in those vortices. I used to be involved in this collegiate solar/electric boat competition called Solar Splash. There was a boat from Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Japan that was a hydrofoil. A truly amazing design and its propeller was very much like an airplane prop. They won the competition that year.
I had no idea I had a tism until this tickles it.
I used to be a marine tech and really enjoyed this series i also learned a good bit more about props from this. Its funny that the boat you most see adjustable props on were normally sail boats to gain better sailing efficiency so that the blades could sit perpendicular to the flow of water making less drag. Like you said most boats are using the fact that an engines power range is normally at a certain rpm so they shoot for that rpm for the props specs. Good series man keep up the cool and interesting videos. Who knew that a kid making bomb dropping cargo condor would evolve into the stuff your doing now.
I also appreciate the well prepared and articulated dialogue! Great stuff! Thanks!!!
i have not a shit clue about anything about propellers or boats, but damn if i wasnt glued to the screen for ep 1 and 2, as soon as i saw 3 it was a must watch! thank you for the time and energy you put in these videos dawg you deserve success frfr (my neighbors can hear me audibly cheering for propellers that beat the base lmao)
Well done for the entire test series! It was a joy to watch even for someone not part of this particular hobby space. Also the static thrust cavitation view was pretty awesome!
Super fun to watch! I really enjoyed seeing the variety of props tested as well as your commitment to capturing good data.
I’d love to see a series about ducted props (Kaplan propellers and kort nozzles), as well as submarine style props, which must have some wild engineering and would be cool to explore in detail.
your commitment to data collection is impressive, and produced some really interesting insights, cant wait to see more if you do this again!
I enjoy watching your videos and this series especially where you have encouraged submissions from others. Just the quick assumptions you make prior to testing are indicative of the depth of rational and logical application. If something fails you explain why, if your methods show potential failure of bias you are smart enough to overcome and explain why so we all learn.
Keep doing what you are doing, it doesn't mean much as I'm a total stranger I am both glad and proud there are people on this planet that have knowledge and and both humble and curious enough the ask the question "What if" or "How can I improve".
Keep being awesome I wish you and your channel every success.
the amount of work for a 30 minute video. Wow. Congratulations.
What's most impressive here is the development of your instrumentation and testing methodology. Very well done.
I’m an aerospace engineer and commercial pilot…and I give this video 5 stars!
Keep up the good work 👍
This proves he is working with us to create the most advanced solar-powered tugboat to date.
this is the best thing in terms of research ive seen in a while. methods and transparency: top of the pile! please keep this going!!!
26:02 The dog seems to be enjoying life ^~^ That made my day
I would rework the hull to accomodate the camera internally with a window.
I totally agree that your little camera rig is totally adding drag and changing the images vs the test results.
Awesome series🤙
Always love your bespoke RCTestflight tunes. Sweet harmony.
33:40 A legitimate marine application for "variable" pitch propellers are the folding propellers used on sailboats. These unfold when under power, but fold under sail to reduce drag.
I have no rc experience but like your presentation and science... this prop test series was educational and kinda fun, thankyou
The lengths you go to w the testing, esp the noise, is truly great. These are awesome vids!
what I love is that you keep going above and beond with your testing
This was a great breakdown, I enjoyed it a lot. Now I don't have an RC boat, but I just enjoy the thoroughness of the whole project.
Daniel! What great work you did here. I learned so much. Just fabulous. One of my favorites, of all your works. Thank you.
Awesome propeller analysis series, and what a fun way to involve the community! The remixed Wellerman song was my favorite of your recent songs, too!
Thanks so much for providing such a wonderful series. Your enthusiasm and energy is truly inspiring.
Great video series man!
Damn, so wish I could CAD...
The winner will be the one to use the properties of the material, to change shape at the right time/load/conditions.
But it will not standout on the graph...
To better understand Cavitation vs Thrust, you a load sensor above the water line. DIY one in about 30minutes.
I think that autonomous solar powered tugboat was one of the first videos I saw from this channel. Absolutely loved it.... even though I live in a desert!
Whoa! Outstanding sequence of research! You are only posting films on a casual basis that include significantly more study than many bachelor theses combined.
I've really enjoyed watching the whole test and your songs are fantastic!
This is a great video! As he points out, the main reason for boat propellers having lower aspect ratios and more blades than air props is due to a combination of practical diameter limits and the cavitation limit of the prop for a given depth and power. A high efficiency, lightweight boat such as a solar powered electric drivetrain with low drag and a power limitation does, in fact, perform best with a low blade count, high aspect propeller
This series was entertaining and educational. Irrelevant to anything I do in my life but very enjoyable all the same, thanks Dan!
Man, this is an amazing series. Like just getting the sense of what is most efficient, low noise and all other fundamentals beginning designing propellers. We had a 10kW motor with a b-series prop on test. I started designing a prop very like the spanmaxxung but with 5 blades and whoa, the system efficiency just went up by 30% on our first try! Now we "just" need to get rid of some apparent tvc.
Man Thank you very much.
I never knew that such an informative channel exist.
This is amazing.
Great series, I really enjoyed it. I look forward to future competitions, this and Major Hardwares fan showdown are really interesting, I like that ppl try serious efficient designs while others try unconventional designs.
Which prop would you recommend say if I had a marine generator converting ocean current to electricity?
God bless good ‘ol APC props
Okay but the discussion at the end was so well done covering all the nuances of this experiment. Awesome stuff
The Sea-Shanty in the end was worth the wait BIG TIME , love the things you choose are not just props for your Video but real life objects of interest you share… Yea here it was props… see what I … ok… I‘ll see myself out…
I am not a RC or boat enthusiast, but I really enjoyed this series! Snagged me with the thumbnail on the first episode!
Kudos to all the people who participated, it was quite interesting to see such different approaches to the same objective.
Great videos! One propeller size fits most is basically the big take away here. There is apparently a reason why most propellers for boats looks the same when they're for similar sized vessels.
As with designs in many other applications, everything is a compromise. Loved the breakdowns after testing.
Real data. respect.
That was a serious endevour with scarryly interesting results, that no-one beat the aircraft long blade design . or even the cfd hours came no-where close.