Electric Helicopter Idea

For those who like considering new rotorcraft concepts; the following is the application of an electric drive to the ultralight intermeshing SynchroLite. It does add an additional uniqueness to an earlier project.

SynchroLite w/ Power Train for 2 electric Flytec motors



Dave

synchrolite ? nope still need to sync the rotors, but the problem would be the batterys, Note: Kaman had an electric helicopter in the 50s A HOK on electric cord to an generator trailer. Has anyone ever seen a Synchrolite project fly?

nope still need to sync the rotors,

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No problem. There a number of ways to mechanically synchronize the rotors;

1. A single X-shaft from motor to motor and passing through the two pinion gears, as shown in the first drawing.
2. Locating a Constant Velocity joint or double Universal joint between the two pinion gears.
3. Having the axles of motor and pinion gears pointed partially forward and then locating a set of miter gears at the forward-inward ends of these shafts.

the problem would be the batterys,

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This is true, but it should be fun to build the craft while hoping that improved battery technology is not toooo far away.

Has anyone ever seen a Synchrolite project fly?

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Only in flights of fancy.

Dave

There's a fellow in I believe Finland who has and who I believe continues to do work in this area. One can only guess what research has and is going on here in the U.S. in that regard; i.e., a small nuclear powered manned/unmanned machine for recon work on Mars.

tyc

Kaman had an electric helicopter 1950s odd,Had a generator on the ground and a power cord up the gazoo.A battery powered Gyro might be a faster project,China has a plane allready in production......

hillberg said:

Kaman had an electric helicopter 1950s odd,Had a generator on the ground and a power cord up the gazoo.A battery powered Gyro might be a faster project,China has a plane already in production......

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Yes it could be a simpler project, but I think that the gyro has a lower efficiency than the helicopter and for electric drives this limitation would be meaningfully. In addition, the helicopter can hover with a power cord to the ground.

The use of a slow RPM electric motor (without a reduction) might serve well for a prerotator and partially powered rotor. A small take-off to a generator would replace the need for using today's heavy batteries.

World's first hybrid gyrocopter? :noidea:

Dave

Keep thinking outside the box Dave. Go for it. Build a small scale.

Dave, if I ever run across a Tom Swift coloring book, I’ll send it to you.

davh12

Heck the weight of the full-size craft we are working on already is small, at about 80 lbs.


Chuck,

Currently, for therapy, my psychiatrist has me carving things such as this mock-up of the aero-rotor hub, which will contain a 1:1 electric motor and provide torque-pitch to the blades. Meanwhile a fellow inmate is busy hurting his hand wrapping 14 AWG wire around the teeth of the stator for this motor.


The dream (hallucination) continues. :help:



This may be of interest to you. It is in the AHS's July 2010 issue of AHS's Journal.

Handling Qualities Assessment of an Autogiro
by;
Marat Bagiev, Research Assistant and Douglas G. Thomson, Senior Lecturer
Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

ABSTRACT
This paper outlines the first steps in the development of handling qualities requirements for autogiros. The basic premise of the research is that the handling qualities requirements and prescribed maneuvers from ADS-33E-PRF document can be modified to suit an autogiro. Inverse simulation is proposed as a preliminary tool in designing autogiro maneuvers. A high fidelity, individual blade/blade element coupled rotor-fuselage mathematical model of an autogiro is developed and successfully coupled with a generic inverse simulation algorithm to form an inverse simulation package. Two test maneuvers, slalom and acceleration-deceleration, were performed during flight test trials of a fully instrumented Montgomerie-Parsons research autogiro. This paper documents the results on autogiro handling qualities assessment based on subjective pilot comments. In conclusion, levels of handling qualities are defined for roll attitude quickness and pilot attack criteria for the autogiro slalom maneuver. ©2010 American Helicopter Society


Dave

Have you by any chance, Dave, read “Tom Swift and his Electric Aeroplane” published circa 1910?

No. I have never even heard of him before.

And the net has very little. This is all that was available.
http://books.google.ca/books?id=KV3e-VzunC8C&pg=PA95&lpg=PA95&dq=%22Tom+Swift%22+%22Electric+Aeroplane%22&source=bl&ots=oTFXz0zDwj&sig=DcA8Arsn_9t5T7LsVtGbwwvZzWQ&hl=en&ei=kA9OTJj1Koa-sQOxxbzHDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22Tom%20Swift%22%20%22Electric%20Aeroplane%22&f=false

Tom Swift, Dave, was a boy inventor; always inventing something that did marvelous things.

It was he who inspired me, when I was into tricycles and coaster wagons, to drive a generator from one wheel of my wagon and use it to power an electric motor driving another wheel. But then the law of conservation of energy reared its ugly head.

There were hundreds of titles, often having something to do with electricity.

Tom Swift and his electric runabout

Tom swift and his electric rifle, etc.

The books were written by several authors under the pseudonym of Victor Appleton, beginning in ~1910 and through the 1960s.

What an motivating series of books they must have been. No doubt they did much for America in the last century by inspiring thousands and thousands of young boys to enter technical fields and build the nation.

As we get older it's interesting to contemplate the forks in the road that we took and what was responsible for the taking of one route over another.

I expect Dave that the Tom Swift series was as widely read in Canada as in the US. They were reprinted in a number of languages as well as in English.

I was never a fan of the far-fetched stuff like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon but the Tom Swift stories sounded plausible.

One I remember was: Tom Swift and his photo telephone; the photo image was displayed on a selenium coated plate with the scanned photo image being carried by a 3rd wire. Both voice and image could be permanently stored on a phonograph cylinder (That was 1912 or so, the flat phonograph disc hadn’t been invented yet).

I think those books might have motivated me to try and separate fact from fantasy.

I think those books might have motivated me to try and separate fact from fantasy.

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It appears that you share a trait with Dr. Hohenemser. It is said that Anton Flettner was constantly come up with novel ideas. Then Dr. Hohenemser would have to perform a reality check. The combination of the two resulted in a very innovative and sophisticated helicopter for its time.

The efficiency (power/weight) of the above intermeshing helicopter could be improved by simply having its two 3-phase motors wired as a single 6-phase motor.

This posting and the link to web page 6-phase for Intermeshing (Bilateral) are to record the idea in the public domain, so that it is freely available to all who may wish to build or develop electric rotorcraft in the future.

Dave