A view of the rotor blade situation.

Aussie_Paul

A reforming stirrer!!!!!
Joined
Oct 30, 2003
Messages
4,441
Location
Ballarat Australia
Aircraft
None at the moment.
Total Flight Time
Since 1982 Gyro 5000+ mostly instructing, and approx. 200 fixed wing in the late 1960s.
My views.<br> <br>[glow=red,2,300]Rotor blade systems.[/glow]<br><br>The recreational gyroplane industry is at the stage of needing to use a 3-blade rotor system for the heavier fully enclosed 4 stroke cross-country gyros. The complexity that a system like that entails is a real disadvantage.  Also hangar space, and the ease of mounting and removing a 3-blade rotor system make for a non user-friendly gyroplane.<br><br>The answer we believe lies in further development of the simple 2-blade teetering system. Most manufactures have just been adding diameter and occasionally some chord as the gyros become heavier, and that has worked up to a point. I am sure that most people are aware that as you get past the 28’ rotor diameter, rotor shake becomes a major problem. Slider heads etc have developed, but we have chosen to take a completely new look at improving the efficiency of the good old simple 2-blade teetering system.<br><br>With a good friend of mine, Rob, in Queensland Australia, we are in the process of testing Rob’s new generation rotor blades for the 2-blade teetering system. These complete composite blades have the airfoil changing from root to tip, the chord reduces towards the tip, and the thickness of the blades reduces slightly towards the tip. They have flown well on Robs 420 kg gross weight Trike converted to a gyro, but he needs test results from a 2 place fully enclosed 4 stroke powered machine. The Raf 2000 is 545 kg gross, and Firebird hybrid is 490 kg. Between the two machines I can do a lot of testing with a lot of important info to be related back to Rob. We are aiming to have the best rotor blades in the world. <br><br> <br>The importance of this blade efficiency is to reduce the angle at which a gyroplanes complete rotor disc meets the incoming airflow. The average is around 9 degrees. If we can reduce that angle even a 1/4 of a degree then we have reduced the induced drag considerably.  If this can be achieved and the rotor shake kept acceptable, then we will have achieved something of note in the gyroplane industry.<br><br>There has been, and still is a tremendous amount of work to achieve what we consider is possible.<br><br>Naturally I hope that this will be the case. <br><br>Food for thought and discussion anyway.<br><br>Aussie Paul.<br>
 
Re: A view of the rotor blade situation.

Paul,<br><br>Just as a pondering point - don't know why it would be that difficult to make a multi blade gyro system that would fold. I used to fly PaveHawks (HH-60G) helicopters in the USAF...our blades folded fairly easily - just two expandable bolts per blade attach them to the blade grip, pull one and the blade folds back - no problem....now the USN and USCG just push a button and their rotor system folds automatically!! I would think that a similar arrangement could work for our level - given enough ingenuity!<br><br>Steve Wages<br> :)
 
Re: A view of the rotor blade situation.

I guess so Steve. <br><br>My concern with recreational pilots is that we are not all mechanically minded and the simpler that we can keep everything the better.<br><br>If that were really true though I would not have pre rotators, rotor brakes etc.<br><br>The complexity of the rotor head would be serious stuff for the average recreational pilot.<br><br>So I say, well, why not try and improve the simple 2 blade teetering system?<br><br>Aussie Paul.
 
Re: A view of the rotor blade situation.

hey ya'll from down under,i have a set of rotor blades made down your way they are called CHALLENGER blades, ya know anything about them????/
 
Re: A view of the rotor blade situation.

If you want to use a two blades rotor for heavy gyros, you have to add some power to the rotor...
if a gyro-pilot is not mechanics minded, he'd better fly a Cessna...and even with a Cessna, you must know what you are flying, not to die from hearing a strange noise...
A gyro pilot is an engineer+mechanics+expert pilot because gyro is [glow=red,2,300]EXPERIMENTAL.[/glow]
If you want to fly a gyro: replicate the Pitcairn (beneath)...
Otherwise, go straight to the helicopter, like De La Cierva did...
 

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