Funnel rotor
Funnel rotor is a rotor for rotorcrafts (e.g., quadcopters) specially designed to prolong time of hovering on a single battery charge.
Abstract
Typical rotors for rotorcrafts, such as quadcopters, have a shape of a pair of propellers. When the rotorcraft is hovering, their rotors pump the air down. That reduce their efficiency because the rotors try to push upward against the air flowing downward. Our proposed rotor avoids accelerating the air around thereby remaining efficient when the rotorcraft is hovering.
Idea
The rotor is composed of funnels with a common axis and vanes that connect the funnels. The funnels narrow upwards. The vanes’ surfaces are in all their points parallel to the axis.
When the rotor is rotating, the vanes push the air away from the axis, creating a negative pressure on the top side of the funnels and a negative pressure on the bottom side of the funnels. The difference of pressures generates lifting force.
Formal status
A patent for this invention is pending.