The Design and Development of a Non-Flapping Rotor System Utilizing Inflexible Blades and Employing a New Rotor Control Mechanism

摘要

The intent of this study was the design, development and preliminary testing of an inflexible blade, hingeless rotor system. A hingeless system was desired due to its advantage of augmented control power resulting from its ability to transfer bending moments across the hub. The inflexible blades offered the unconventional feature of reducing the magnitude of blade flap-wise flexing to substantially zero and of removing the resultant problems of rotor dynamics. These stiffer blades generally dictated the use of more compact rotors, i.e., of a smaller diameter and therefore of a higher disk loading. The control rotor was of unconventional design and utilized a relatively small, free-flapping rotor to convey cyclic commands to the main rotor blades and provide rolling trim with varying forward speed. The present study has yielded a simple, mechanical system that essentially satisfies the design criteria and shows sufficient promise to warrant further development and testing. (Author)