The Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials KyronMAX® Challenge invited designers and engineers to share designs that utilized KyronMAX®'s range of high-strength carbon fiber-based composites to solve an engineering or manufacturing challenge. For more information about the challenge and the KyronMAX material, see our previous articles in the series.

The winner of the KyronMAX®  Challenge was Delson Aeronautics with their design for a UAV blade that can cut noise by 50%. The ultra-quiet blades can entirely eliminate the incessant buzzing sound of drones. Not only does this make drones generally less annoying, but the noise reduction has a game-changing impact for drone photography, the defense industry, and much-anticipated drone delivery. The Delson Aeronautic team is made up of Michael Deloyer, Eitan Rotbart, and Ammar Jessa. 

The team will now work closely with Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Material engineers to develop and produce a full prototype of the blades. This article will be updated monthly to provide insight into the design development and manufacturing process. 

Stage One (May-June): Design validation 

The Delson team has been developing their UAV blades for 3 years and created several thousands of iterations of blades using additive manufacturing. The first step of the process is working with MCAM  to run full stress analysis on the blades to define the most suitable KyronMAX®  material for blade construction.. This involves determining operating speeds, loads, and environmental conditions. Which are then transferred into software to accurately simulate stresses acting on the blades. The Delson team is working closely with a UAV/Drone manufacturer to explore a potential commercialization path.

One of the design features of the Delson blades that impressed the judges was the team's enthusiasm for developing an end-of-life recycling plan for their blades. Many carbon fiber products are difficult to recycle. KyronMAX® has been developed so that a majority of the products manufactured in its suite of materials are able to be incorporated into the production cycle. Drone blades, drone blades tend to have an average lifespan of 2-3 years, often less when used on a regular basis, and are almost always disposed of in landfills. A blade that does not produce noise or waste is the Delon Team’s vision of a better future.

Stage Two (June-July): Prototyping

• Determining best manufacturing method for blade production.
• Validating manufacturing process.
• Designing tooling/molds. 
• Producing first prototype.

Stage Three (July-Aug): Testing

• Receiving first blades.
• Testing blade performance on dynamometer. 
• Integrating onto drone.
• Flight testing and tuning. 
• Flight demonstration to UAV industry members. 

Final Stage: Commercialization

• Determining manufacturing, distribution, and licensing with UAV manufacturer(s).

We will be updating this article as the team makes progress. Follow along here and on our Instagram.

About the sponsor:

Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials is a leading global manufacturer of high-performance materials in the form of semi-finished products and finished parts. The company has locations in 20 countries and more than 2,800 employees. Its specialty engineering thermoplastics and composites are superior in performance to metals and other materials and are used in a wide range of applications, primarily in the capital goods industry. The company is continuously developing new areas of applications in close cooperation with industry leaders in a broad variety of customer markets. The Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials Group is well prepared to further expand its market leadership position.

Supporting the vision of our holding company, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation (MCHC), Mitsubishi Chemical Advanced Materials is committed to the realization of KAITEKI, “a sustainable condition which is comfortable for people, society and the Earth”. To realize this vision, the MCHC Group engages in corporate activities that provide products, technologies and services based on the comprehensive capabilities of the Group in the Performance Products Domain, Industrial Materials Domain and Health Care Domain, with chemistry as the basis of our activities. We jointly express and promote our commitment under the corporate brand THE KAITEKI COMPANY.