HELICOPTER THEORY

ROTORCRAFT
A rotorcraft or rotary-wing aircraft is a heavier than air
flying machine that uses lift generated by wings, called
rotor blades, that revolve around a mast. Several rotor
blades mounted on a single mast are referred to as a
rotor.
CLASSIFICATION OF ROTORCRAFT
o Helicopter
o Cyclogyro/Cyclocopter
o Autogyro
o Gyrodyne
o Rotor kite
CYCLOGYRO
 AUTOGYRO
 An autogyro also known as gyroplane, gyrocopter, or
rotaplane, is a type of rotorcraft which uses an
unpowered rotor in autorotation to develop lift and an
engine-powered propeller, similar to that of a fixed-wing
aircraft to provide thrust.
 GYRODYNE
 A Gyrodyne is a type of VTOL aircraft with a
helicopter like rotor system that is driven by its engine
for takeoff and landing and also includes one or more
conventional propellers to provide forward thrust
during cruising flight.
 HELICOPTER
 A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and
thrust are supplied by rotors. This allows the helicopter
to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly
forward, backward, and laterally.

 These attributes allow helicopters to be used in

congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft
and other forms of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft
cannot perform.
EVOLUTON OF HELICOPTERS
 Earliest Helicopter..
Chinese Top (2000 Years ago)
EVOLUTON OF HELICOPTERS
 Leonardo da Vinci (15th Century)
Leonardo da Vinci designed one of the more
aesthetically pleasing concepts for a helicopter,
but such a craft was never actually constructed
 EVOLUTON OF HELICOPTERS
 First Success..
Sir George Cayley (1796)
In England in 1796, Sir George Cayley constructed the
first powered models of helicopters that were driven by
elastic devices. One of these models, shown below,
attained an altitude of ninety feet.
EVOLUTON OF HELICOPTERS
 In 1842, almost fifty years after Sir George Cayley, fellow
Englishman W. H. Phillips constructed a model
helicopter that weighed 20 pounds (9 kg) and was
driven by steam.

 In 1880, Thomas Edison was the first American to

perform any notable research on helicopters. Edison
built a test stand and tested several different propellers
using an electric motor. He deduced that in order to
create a feasible helicopter, he needed a lightweight
engine that could produce a large amount of power.
EVOLUTON OF HELICOPTERS
Modern Helicopter History
First Vertical Flight
 The first manned helicopter to rise vertically completely
unrestrained was constructed by Paul Cornu, a French
mechanic, in 1907. Cornu's helicopter had two propellers
that were rotated at 90 rpm by a 24-hp (18 kW) engine.
EVOLUTON OF HELICOPTERS
First True Helicopters
 Just before and during World War II, Germany made several
large, significant steps in helicopter development. The FA-61
helicopter, designed by Heinrich Focke, first flew in June
1936, and was later used in publicity stunts by the Nazis.
 The FL-282 helicopter, designed by Anton Flettner, became
operational with the German Navy, and over 1000 of them
were produced. This helicopter utilized twin intermeshing
rotors, had a forward speed of 90 mph (145 km/h), and could
operate at an altitude of 13,000 ft (3,965 m) with a payload
of 800 lb (360 kg).
EVOLUTON OF HELICOPTERS
 The first American helicopter was the VS-300, designed by
Igor Sikorsky of the Vought- Sikorsky Company. The VS-300
was the first helicopter to use a tail rotor to counteract the
torque produced by the main rotor, and it was this
innovation that solved the last major hurdle in making
helicopters practical flying vehicles. This design is now the
most common in today's helicopters.
HELICOPTER COMPONENTS
 How Helicopter Works
The Main Rotor:
LIFT:
The lifting force is produced by the rotors.
As they spin they cut into the air and produce lift.
Each blade produces an equal share of the lifting force.

Spinning the rotor against the air causes lift, allowing the
helicopter to rise vertically or hover.
 How Helicopter Works
The Main Rotor:
LIFT
COLLECTIVE CONTROL STICK: It is used to
raise or lower the helicopter, while at the same
time controlling the throttle (not an easy task).
Moving this up and down changes the pitch of the
main rotors. As the pitch is increased more power
is required from the engines so that the rotor
speed is kept at the same level
 How Helicopter Works
 FORWARD AND REARWARD:
Tilting the spinning rotor will cause flight in the
direction of the tilt.
 How Helicopter Works
 FORWARD AND REARWARD:
The cyclic control stick is used to move the
helicopter forward, backward and to either side, as
if you were in a conventional aircraft
How Helicopter Works
 Tail Rotor:
The tail rotor is very important. If you spin a rotor using
an engine, the rotor will rotate, but the engine and the
helicopter will try to rotate in the opposite direction.

This is called TORQUE REACTION.

The tail rotor is used like a small propeller, to pull

against torque reaction and hold the helicopter straight.
By applying more or less pitch (angle) to the tail rotor
blades it can be used to make the helicopter turn left or
right, becoming a rudder. The tail rotor is connected to
the main rotor through a gearbox.
TORQUE REACTION
 TORQUE REACTION
 Antitorque Pedals : It is used to control the pitch of the
tail-rotor. For straight flight, the pitch of the tail rotor is
set to prevent the helicopter from turning to the right
as the main rotor turns to the left. The pilot pushes the
left pedal to increase the pitch of the tail rotor and turn
to the left. Pushing the right pedal decreases the pitch of
the tail rotor and turns the helicopter to the right.
POWER TRANSMISSION
 The purpose of the helicopter's power transmission
system is to take power from the engine and transfer it
to other components that help power and control the
helicopter
MAIN ROTOR SYSTEM
Helicopter rotor systems are defined by the way the
blades connect to the rotor hub

 Articulated rotors
 Semi Rigid rotors
 Rigid rotors
MAIN ROTOR SYSTEM
Fully Articulated Rotor System
Fully Articulated Rotor System
Fully Articulated Rotor System
Fully Articulated Rotor System
 Generally consists of three or more rotor blades
 Each blade is attached to the rotor hub by a
horizontal hinge (flapping hinge). Each blade moves
up and down independently of others
 Position of the flapping hinge is selected keeping in
view stability and control
 Each blade is attached to the hub by a vertical
hinge. Each blade moves back and forth in the plane
of the rotor disc
Semi Rigid Rotor System
Semi Rigid Rotor System
Semi Rigid Rotor System
 A semi rigid rotor system allows for two
different movements, flapping and feathering.
This system is normally comprised of two
blades, which are rigidly attached to the rotor
hub. The hub is then attached to the rotor mast
by a trunnion bearing or teetering hinge. This
allows the blades to see-saw or flap together. As
one blade flaps down, the other flaps up.
Feathering is accomplished by the feathering
hinge, which changes the pitch angle of the
blade.
Rigid Rotor System

 The rigid rotor system is mechanically simple,

but structurally complex because operating
loads must be absorbed in bending rather than
through hinges. In this system, the blades cannot
flap or lead and lag, but they can be feathered.
 There are no vertical or horizontal hinges so
the blades cannot flap or drag, but they can be
feathered. Operating loads from flapping and
lead/lag forces must be absorbed by bending
rather than through hinges.
HELICOPTER CONFIGURATIONS
Helicopter configurations may be classified in to
five main types and several sub classes.
 The Single Rotor
 Coaxial Rotors
 Side-by-Side rotors
 Tandem Rotors and
 Multi rotors
 The Single Rotor
 In terms of number of machines in operation
today, the single rotor machine with tail rotor is
far the most common type.
 It has the advantage of being relatively simple-
one rotor, one set of controls, one main
transmission
 While the tail rotor uses about 8 to 10 percent
of the engine power in hovering and 3 to 4
percent in forward flight.
The Single Rotor
 Coaxial Rotors
Dissymmetry of lift
Dissymmetry of lift in rotorcraft aerodynamics
refers to an uneven amount of lift on opposite
sides of the rotor disc. It is a phenomenon that
affects single-rotor helicopters in forward flight.
A rotor blade that is moving in the same direction
as the aircraft is called the advancing blade and
the blade moving in the opposite direction is
called the retreating blade
Dissymmetry of lift
 Coaxial Rotors
 Coaxial rotors are a pair of rotors turning in opposite
directions, but mounted on a mast, with the same axis
of rotation, one above the other.

 The advantage of the coaxial rotor is that, in forward

flight, the lift provided by the advancing halves of each
rotor compensates for the retreating half of the other,
eliminating one of the key effects of dissymmetry of lift
Coaxial Rotors
Tandem Rotor
 Tandem Rotor
 Tandem rotor helicopters have two large horizontal
rotor assemblies mounted one in front of the other.
Currently this configuration is mainly used for large
cargo helicopters
 Tandem rotor helicopters, however, use counter-
rotating rotors, with each canceling out the other's
torque. Therefore all of the power from the engines can
be used for lift, whereas a single rotor helicopter uses
some of the engine power to counter the torque
Side by Side Rotor or Transverse rotor

Transverse rotor rotorcraft have two large horizontal

rotor assemblies mounted side by side.
 Side by Side Rotor or Transverse rotor

The basic advantage of the side-by-side rotor is that the

laterally displaced rotor effect a reduction in power
required to produce lift in forward flight, similar to the
aspect ratio effect on an airplane wing.

The advantage becomes important in large multi engine

helicopters where standard requires that level flight be
possible with one engine dead, since the reduction in
power necessary to maintain level flight in the side-by-side
ship permits bigger loads to be carried.
 Multi Rotor

 A multirotor or multicopter is a rotorcraft with more

than two rotors. Multirotors often use fixed-pitch
blades, whose rotor pitch does not vary as the blades
rotate; control of vehicle motion is achieved by varying
the relative speed of each rotor to change the thrust
and torque produced by each.
 Due to their ease of both construction and control,
multirotor aircraft are frequently used in model and
radio control aircraft projects in which the names
quadcopter, hexacopter and octocopter are frequently
used to refer to 4-, 6- and 8-rotor helicopters,
respectively.