Lightest Possible Gyro

sanman

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So I was watching this video for Flylight's upcoming Peabee2, which is their planned flexwing for the Sub-70kg category that they have in the UK & Australia:



I was looking at this and wondering why a Gyroplane couldn't be constructed on a similar type of frame?

So here, I'm not concerned on meeting a particular legal category or weight class. I was really just thinking purely from a flight physics point of view, and the art of what's mechanically possible.

I'm imagining that it would require unprecedentedly light rotor blades, though.
 
Original Benson was a hang glider like control stick coming down from the rotor hub, the triangle actually might be more ergonomic in that application.
Rotors need enough weight at the tips to maintain momentum, but the whole assembly could be lighter, especially if it didn't need to be fast....
 
Haven't seen anything about this since 2015.Chimera Bulldog GBT1170.jpg
 
From a not-yet-pilot 'design-only' perspective, I'm a fan of overhead sticks. Doing that on my own build, albeit with a Cierva-type reverser to mimic standard input control directions. It gets rid of all the control rods and associated mechanisms and linkages. It also eliminates the parasite drag they would impose.
 
Wouldn’t the drag be about the same with control rods as with the above control bar? Seems about the same surface area or more with the bar since it adds the horizontal part of the control bar into the air stream.
 
From a drag perspective, A inverted T bar with a foil shape would be best, but these aircraft are slow and draggy anyway.
If you are truly designing one to be fast, it's not going to be the lightest, or simple.
Most of these are happy cruising around at 45 to 55mph.
The standard control tubes are already flying in "Dirty Air" from everything forward and the mast, putting them as close to the mast as possible and putting a fairing over the whole mess would be the cleanest approach, but it opens other cans of worms...
You don't need an F-1 wing on your golf cart!
 
Brian: Have any photos you would share w/ us?
I should by around Halloween. There's old patent drawings online though. Mine's different but same basic concept. Pivot placement affects 'gearing' ratio of stick movement to head angle, which is needed for tall masts and short arms.
 
There are all sorts of design issues with that trike-o-copter.

One in particular is the use of a big tri-bar as the control column. The control movements in a trike are huge compared to those in a gyro. In some cases, the trike's control pressures are quite a bit higher than in a gyro. Our control pressures are in ounces, and our routine stick motions are often less than an inch -- even with the lax leverage ratio that you get with a long, direct-linked O.H. stick.

Bottom line: Make the O.H. stick long enough that your forearms are near your lap. Note that Bensen did NOT do this; his O.H. sticks had bottom ends close to the pilot's shoulder level. But IMHO having your hands up in your own face leads to less-precise control inputs and more pilot fatigue.
 

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Dad built one back in 1996 that was 251 pounds. It was powered by a 503 and had electric motors with foldable props in the rotors for a once a flight prerotator. It weighed less than I did. I actually flew it once and the power to weight ratio was awesome. It’s was scary though. I could move and would turn that direction. It didn’t feel stable at all.
 
Bottom line: Make the O.H. stick long enough that your forearms are near your lap. Note that Bensen did NOT do this; his O.H. sticks had bottom ends close to the pilot's shoulder level. But IMHO having your hands up in your own face leads to less-precise control inputs and more pilot fatigue.
Just design the stick such that you can control it with your wrist while your forearm is resting on some kind of surface or on your lap. Like how you move the mouse on your computer.
 
I suppose the stick at shoulder height is to remind the pilot's subconscious that he is controlling the plane of the disk, not the attitude of the airframe
 
Dad built one back in 1996 that was 251 pounds. It was powered by a 503 and had electric motors with foldable props in the rotors for a once a flight prerotator. It weighed less than I did. I actually flew it once and the power to weight ratio was awesome. It’s was scary though. I could move and would turn that direction. It didn’t feel stable at all.
I have been interested in that style of pre-rotator for a while, do you have any pictures of it?

wolfy
 
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