Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) demand continuous improvements in propulsion efficiency, acoustic performance, and manufacturability. Conventional propellers, while well-optimized for thrust, contribute significantly to noise pollution and offer limited scope for rapid design customization. Recently, toroidal propellers—characterized by closed-loop blade tips—have gained attention for their potential to reduce noise by mitigating tip vortices.

This study presents an experimental comparison between a conventional three-bladed propeller and a three-loop toroidal propeller of identical diameter (5.5 inches). Both propellers were manufactured using additive manufacturing techniques and tested under controlled laboratory conditions using an industrial thrust bench and acoustic measurement setup. Thrust output and noise levels were measured across a wide range of rotational speeds.

Results indicate that while the conventional propeller produces significantly higher thrust at all RPM levels, the toroidal propeller demonstrates consistently lower noise emissions, particularly at low-to-medium rotational speeds. The findings highlight the trade-off between thrust performance and acoustic benefits, suggesting that toroidal propellers may be better suited for noise-sensitive UAV applications where absolute thrust is not the primary requirement