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The Art of the Helicopter John Watkinson - Karatunov.net

The Art of the Helicopter John Watkinson - Karatunov.net

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Rotors in practice 127<br />

assembly that is particularly important on multi-blade heads, where <strong>the</strong> head can<br />

become a serious source <strong>of</strong> drag if it is larger than necessary. Figure 4.2 showed an<br />

example <strong>of</strong> a head in which <strong>the</strong> flapping and dragging hinges are combined in a single<br />

Hooke joint having a cruciform central member. <strong>The</strong> logical place for <strong>the</strong> fea<strong>the</strong>ring<br />

bearing is outboard.<br />

Figure 4.9(a) shows that <strong>the</strong> three hinge axes are not necessarily orthogonal. This<br />

results in coupling between <strong>the</strong> axes, sometimes deliberate, sometimes an unavoidable<br />

geometric compromise. A hinge has an axis and this can only uniquely be defined in<br />

three dimensions. In Figure 4.9(a) O is <strong>the</strong> rotor head, OZ is <strong>the</strong> rotor shaft axis and<br />

OX is <strong>the</strong> blade span axis. OXY is <strong>the</strong> plane <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> rotor. In an orthogonal head, OY<br />

would be <strong>the</strong> flapping axis, OZ would be <strong>the</strong> dragging axis and OX <strong>the</strong> fea<strong>the</strong>ring axis.<br />

(a)<br />

(b) (c)<br />

(d)<br />

Fig. 4.9 (a) <strong>The</strong> axes <strong>of</strong> hinges in <strong>the</strong> head are not always orthogonal. Two <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> axes may be turned as<br />

shown by amounts delta-1 and delta-3. (b) To avoid coupling between flapping and fea<strong>the</strong>ring, <strong>the</strong> pitch change<br />

rod must terminate on <strong>the</strong> flapping hinge axis. (c) <strong>The</strong> pitch change rod may terminate outboard <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> flapping<br />

axis. This results in a delta-3 effect (d).

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