Patent — available for licensing
Optimized Airfoil Design for Aerial Flight Vehicles in Low-Reynolds Flight
A NASA invention available to explore as a licensing opportunity.
About this technology
Overview
The success of the Mars Helicopter Ingenuity has inspired efforts to improve fundamental understanding of compressible, low Reynolds number aerodynamics and wing/rotor performance, especially in atmospheres of very low densities. Studies have focused on optimizing unconventional airfoils, revealing significant possible advancements in sectional aerodynamic airfoil performance. Ames Research Center has developed a technology that relates generally to multi-objective optimization and, more particularly, to methods and systems for producing efficient airfoil geometries for use in aerial flight vehicles in low Reynolds conditions. The invention, developed under the Rotor Optimization for the Advancement of Mars eXploration (ROAMX) project, provides a method for optimizing airfoil geometries for aerial flight vehicles in general, and also supports airfoil geometries specifically for operating in Martian or other Low Reynolds number environments.