Leonardo da Vinci's helicopter stunned science

Modern simulations show that da Vinci's 1480 design consumed less energy than even a drone rotor – a testament to his genius beyond his time.

Researcher Rajat Mittal of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, USA and colleagues discovered that the helicopter designed by Leonardo da Vinci as a military engineer in 1480 (but never built or tested) could require less energy to generate the same lift as a conventional drone rotor. Photo: Passei Direto.

Da Vinci's helicopter design resembled the Archimedes screw, a spiral-shaped pump that moved water as it rotated. The famous Renaissance inventor envisioned a human-powered helicopter, which would have been difficult to take off due to its weight. However, with a lightweight electric motor spinning the rotor, it could actually take to the skies. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Mittal and his colleagues built a mock-up of the da Vinci helicopter and placed it in a virtual wind tunnel to see how it would perform while hovering in place, testing it at different rotation speeds and comparing it to a conventional two-bladed drone rotor. Photo: leonardodavincisinventions.com.

Test results showed that the helicopter designed by da Vinci could generate the same amount of lift while rotating more slowly, meaning it consumed less energy than modern solutions. Photo: leonardodavincisinventions.com.

By measuring the pressure patterns and airflow around the helicopter, the team can calculate how much sound it makes. Photo: grabcad.com.

The team is looking to see if they can improve the da Vinci helicopter design to be more efficient while still maintaining its noise-reducing properties. Photo: Getty Images.

As drones are increasingly used in cities for home deliveries or emergency services, noise pollution is becoming a major issue. Photo: Getty Images.

This prompted researchers to look for a new rotor design that would be quieter without sacrificing lift. To prove that da Vinci’s design could be useful in the real world, the team needed to test how it would perform when flying through the air, rather than just hovering, and to consider how the added weight of the rotor might affect performance. Photo: Getty Images/iStockphoto.

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