Soft in-plane and stiff out-of-plane rotor system
AssigneeBell Helicopter Textron Inc.
InventorsKen Shundo, Mithat Yuce, Frank B. Stamps
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A rotor assembly includes a yoke operably associated with a rotor blade. The yoke includes a first device and a second device that attach the rotor blade to the yoke. The first device is configured to allow transverse movement of the rotor blade about a chord axis and rotational movement about a pitch-change axis. The second device is configured to allow rotational movement of the rotor blade solely about the pitch-change axis. The method includes rotating rotor assembly about a first plane of rotation, while retaining a relatively stiff out-of-plane rotation and a relatively soft in-plane rotation during flight.
Claims18
A rotor assembly, comprising:
- a yoke operably associated with a rotor blade;
- and
- a first device and a second device, both the first device and the second device being configured to attach the rotor blade to the yoke;
- wherein the first device is configured to allow transverse movement of the rotor blade about a chord axis and rotational movement about a pitch-change axis;
- wherein the second device is configured to allow rotational movement of the rotor blade solely about the pitch-change axis.
An aircraft, comprising:
- a rotor system, having:
- a first rotor assembly;
- a second rotor assembly coaxially aligned with the first rotor assembly;
- wherein the first rotor assembly and the second rotor assembly are configured to remain relatively stiff in an out-of-plane rotation plane so as to avoid contact with each other;
- and
- wherein the first rotor assembly and the second rotor assembly are configured to remain relatively soft in an in-plane rotation plane so as to allow compensation for in-plane loads during flight.
A method, comprising:
- rotating a first rotor blade about a first plane of rotation;
- retaining a relatively stiff out-of-plane rotation of the first rotor blade during flight;
- and
- retaining a relatively soft in-plane rotation of the first rotor blade during flight.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.