DESIGN & ANALYSIS

 

Sensenich Technologies has a deep propulsion background, originally starting with propellers and fans in 1932. Over the years Sensenich has developed a robust design and analysis capability for free-air propellers and unducted fans for a range of applications, including: general and light aviation, unmanned aircraft, airboats, wind machines, and target drones.

 

Propulsion Design/Analysis

Sensenich propellers and fans are designed using Minimum Induced Loss / Theodorsen method for the primary design point, then they are mission-profile optimized using proprietary in-house and commercial codes for off-design point analysis. Propulsion sizing and integration should be performed early in the vehicle design process to ensure good efficiency and operating characteristics.

 

Design Trade-offs

Blade planform, airfoils, section thickness, etc are fine-tuned according to the inflow design and cooling requirements. Significant mission requirements considered include: speed vs climb vs loiter efficiency, acoustics (a function of tip speed, blade shaping, airfoils among others), pitch setting and options (fixed, single pitch, adjustable pitch, variable pitch), operations (launch, recovery, mission types), deployment mode (front line or remote), and blade protection options (like leading edge erosion, finish, and damage tolerance).

 

Composite Design/Process Engineering

While we've been designing and manufacturing with laminated wood and aluminum since the 1930's, we've also become very experienced in composites manufacturing and process engineering. Beginning with wet-layup and vacuum bagging in the early 1990's, we've extended into prepreg materials using internal pressure molding and compression molding on various foam cores. Resin infusion and other liquid molding processes are considered depending on the particular requirements.

 

Customer Designs

Sensenich also supports customer generated designs with performance prediction, structural and vibration analysis, materials selection and fabrication. While propellers and fans are our specialty, we have also analyzed and fabricated for many other applications, such as wind tunnel blades, airboat rudders, wind turbines, aircraft wings, commercial parts, and tooling for various composite parts.