Numerical analysis of the influence of the number of blades on the dynamic performance of a drone.

The use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and known under the generic name of drones is increasingly present in different economic sectors, due to the versatility they offer in solving specific problems. The specific problems to be solved, however, raise the need for the technical characteristics of the drones to be optimized according to the specific usage. In the case of drones used in technological processes in agriculture, they must offer a high autonomy, that can be increased by optimizing their weight. The paper proposes the study of the dynamics of the air flow according to the configuration of the drone rotor (2 and 3 rotor respectively) by numerical analysis methods for the further development of a drone that will be used in the phytosanitary treatment process of agricultural crops. The parameters evaluated and compared are the specific parameters for characterizing the airflow: velocity and relative pressure (at different nacelle's section, both in horizontal and vertical directions). The obtained results show that the most constant, dense and homogeneous velocity field was obtained from the 3-blade configuration of the rotor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]