20.01.2013 Views

The Art of the Helicopter John Watkinson - Karatunov.net

The Art of the Helicopter John Watkinson - Karatunov.net

The Art of the Helicopter John Watkinson - Karatunov.net

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

306 <strong>The</strong> <strong>Art</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>Helicopter</strong><br />

(a)<br />

(b)<br />

Fig. 7.43 (a) <strong>The</strong> Bell/Young flybar system. <strong>The</strong> flybar is essentially a gyroscope. (b) In this example <strong>the</strong> main<br />

rotor will stay parallel to <strong>the</strong> plane <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> flybar because <strong>the</strong>re is a unity relationship between <strong>the</strong> flybar attitude<br />

and <strong>the</strong> amount <strong>of</strong> cyclic pitch applied.<br />

axis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> blades. <strong>The</strong> control rods from <strong>the</strong> swashplate are attached to a pair <strong>of</strong> mixer<br />

arms pivoting in <strong>the</strong> flybar. Fur<strong>the</strong>r rods from <strong>the</strong> mixer arms <strong>the</strong>n operate <strong>the</strong> pitch<br />

control arms <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> blades.<br />

It will be seen from Figure 7.43(b) that if <strong>the</strong> swashplate remains fixed, with a suitable<br />

linkage <strong>the</strong> rotational axis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> flybar effectively can become <strong>the</strong> control axis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

rotor, because <strong>the</strong> blades tend to stay parallel to <strong>the</strong> flybar. This is called a unity mixing<br />

system. A smaller stabilizing effect is still obtained if <strong>the</strong> fea<strong>the</strong>ring <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> blades is<br />

some proportion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> flybar motion.<br />

<strong>The</strong> flybar is influenced by dampers on a bar fixed to <strong>the</strong> rotor shaft. If <strong>the</strong> flybar<br />

rotational axis and <strong>the</strong> shaft axis are different <strong>the</strong> dampers will oscillate because <strong>the</strong><br />

flybar is effectively flapping with respect to <strong>the</strong> shaft. This action tries to bring <strong>the</strong><br />

flybar axis parallel to <strong>the</strong> shaft axis at a rate proportional to <strong>the</strong> divergence between<br />

<strong>the</strong> axes.<br />

If <strong>the</strong> flybar is tilted in any axis, <strong>the</strong> maximum flapping velocity is reached at 90 ◦ to<br />

that axis. As <strong>the</strong> dampers produce a couple proportional to velocity, this couple will<br />

be about an axis at 90 ◦ to <strong>the</strong> flapping axis. This couple will cause <strong>the</strong> flybar to precess<br />

into alignment with <strong>the</strong> rotor shaft. Thus <strong>the</strong> flybar is a gyro loosely tied to <strong>the</strong> rotor<br />

shaft. <strong>The</strong> flybar axis will align with <strong>the</strong> shaft axis when <strong>the</strong> machine is in equilibrium,<br />

but in any manoeuvre <strong>the</strong> divergence will be proportional to <strong>the</strong> rate <strong>of</strong> change <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />

attitude <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> shaft axis, i.e. <strong>the</strong> roll rate or <strong>the</strong> pitch rate <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> hull. Thus <strong>the</strong> angle<br />

<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> flybar relative to <strong>the</strong> mast is a measure <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> roll rate <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> helicopter.<br />

<strong>The</strong> flybar is gyroscopic so it will tend to hold a constant rotational axis. If, in steady<br />

flight or in <strong>the</strong> hover, <strong>the</strong> tip path plane <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> rotor is disturbed by a gust, <strong>the</strong> tip

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!