The propellers for RV Investigator have arrived and they are huge! Compare the size of the man highlighted by the red box, to one of the blades.

One of RV Investigator's propellors
A near-to-full moon shines brightly above four antennas of the CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array at Narrabri in north-western NSW.
One of RV Investigator's propellors

3 comments

  1. Pat Gilmartin

    20th November 2012 at 6:58 pm

    I envy you guys, I spent quite a few years of my life on the RAN Hydrographic ships Cook and Moresby. I was always fascinated by the experiments etc that the “Boffins” did and then made all those super serious facial expressions over and did a lot of head nodding. Although I have to admit,,,,Vibro Cores kind of wear thin after three or four months straight.

    Reply
  2. Sarah

    15th November 2012 at 10:51 am

    Hello Walterspick

    Thanks for your comment.

    The propellers are outward turning, 3500mm in diameter and each weigh 3.690 tonnes.The material used is nickel aluminium manganese bronze.

    The keyless five bladed propellers are designed to absorb 2600 kW, and rotate at 155 RPMs at 15 knots.

    And, the unique blade design avoids blade tip cavitation at all operating speeds, which minimises propeller induced noise.

    I hope that helps!

    Sarah

    Reply
  3. walterspick

    15th November 2012 at 9:15 am

    There is an interesting little curl on the end of each blade. What is its purpose? Efficiency? Quietness?

    Reply

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