More blades mean more thrust and less noise. Continuously developed the MT propellers, rotors with more blades. They should help to build airplanes with electric motors.
More blades, more thrust, that’s what the German manufacturer MT-Propeller says. The company has developed an eleven-blade propeller and tested it on an airplane. With the help of the propeller, an airplane converts the rotational movement of the engine into thrust. The speed of rotation and the area of the blades largely determine the strength of the propulsion thrust. The number of blades, however, the amount of impulses per rotation.
The 11-blade propeller was tried on a Piper PA31T1 fitted with Pratt
According to the company, the static thrust for take-off was 15 percent higher than with a normal propeller. The developers hope that this system, combined with low speed, could open up new possibilities in terms of performance, efficiency and noise. Among other things, the new propeller makes it easier to drive with an electric motor.
The first test flight of a seven-blade propeller was completed in 2016, and a nine-blade propeller was tested in 2019. In 2022 there are now eleven leaves. MT-Propeller is unknown to the outsider, but the company from Straubing dominates the propeller market. Their five-blade propellers became the industry standard. They are used in the Cessna 425 series, the Piper Cheyenne PA31T and T1, the Piper Cheyenne PA42-1000 and the Cessna 208 Caravan, among others. MT-Propeller was founded in 1981 by Gerd Mühlbauer and offers more than 27 propeller designs, which in turn can be combined with over 220 blades. The company says it supplies propellers for over 90 percent of piston and turbine-powered aircraft manufactured in Europe.
