Innovative Technology
EVT boasts an impressive range of advantages over conventional propellers
Maelstrom’s unrivaled technology makes boating more fun, more affordable, and safer.
We developed a simple, revolutionary propulsion technology, Eddy Vortex TechnologyTM (EVT), to replace the 150-year-old propeller tech found on almost every vessel. Maelstrom Props are drop-in replacements giving boat owners much better range, speed, and handling, with the world’s toughest and safest prop.
Eddy vortex technology: unique
Maelstrom’s tech, Eddy, exploits a bio-informed transient fluid effect (that can double thrust) to create continuous high thrust.
Conventional boat propellers create thrust by spinning sharp, airfoil-shaped blades in water. This generates a low-pressure region on the forward faces of the blades and a high-pressure region on the aft faces. That fore-aft difference in pressure is what pushes the boat. However, the high pressure aft of the blade “bleeds” around the outer tip of each blade into the low pressure region, reducing the pressure difference and so the thrust. Worse, that bleed creates a tip vortex that robs energy. This is why for 150 years propeller designers have tried to minimize or eliminate the tip vortex as a Bad Thing.
Maelstrom flipped the script, realizing that a vortex can actually be a Good Thing that generates superior thrust. We intentionally designed Eddy to induce a massive vortex over its forward surface, creating more thrust than the airfoil-shaped blades of old conventional propellers. The thrust created by the Eddy can be a multiple of that produced by conventional props, delivering more thrust for less power, saving fuel.
This image shows the difference between the flow of water over a conventional propeller blade and a Maelstrom Eddy fin.
Eddy’s huge vortex generates a large, powerful low-pressure volume on the forward face of the fin, boosting thrust. The energy lost to the vortex in conventional propeller designs is instead exploited for maximum benefit.
Cross-sections through a Maelstrom Eddy fin (left) and a conventional propeller (right). Eddy’s fin is much thicker than a conventional propeller’s blade, making Eddy far more rigid given the same material. This makes Eddy so stiff that it can be made of nearly any material, including damage-resistant polymers. Practically indestructible and free of sharp edges, Maelstrom’s Eddy is far safer than any conventional propeller.
unrivaled durability & safety
Existing propeller blades are thin, dangerous, and easily damaged. EVT uses specially shaped blunt, high-thrust fins that are much thicker than existing propeller blades. Maelstrom’s prop is inherently strong and safe (our CEO calmly grabbed & stopped a fast-spinning Maelstrom bare- handed, without a scratch). Watch the video here.