Jet planes are or forward (like a plane), combining the advantages of both in a single aircraft. some way with what's called counter-torque (a turning force in the You can also see two of the rotor blades The planetary gear case or commonly called as ring gear case is the only transmission case which is made of steel. allow it to hover in mid-air or steer in any direction. jungle, you can take off or land more or less anywhere. The gearbox provides any degree of change in direction of tail rotor driveshaft. Engine is directly connected to the transmission by a shaft, normally called as the main drive shaft. Picture by Jeremy L. Grisham courtesy of, Photo: Helicopter engine: Look under the rotor of this Seahawk helicopter. large rotor at either end of the craft (a design called a tandem rotor). across its wings to generate enough lift; that means it needs large The big problem with a plane is that lots of air has to race It takes four US marines to hold this rotor in place while it's being reattached after maintenance. Sikorsky designs and patents a practical, working helicopter. It contains one or two engines, a transmission, and gearboxes, which power one or two main rotors and a much smaller tail rotor at the back. The tail rotor is found at the tail end of a helicopter and its primary function is to counteract the torque effect by the main rotor. jet of air, fired through a vent on the tail, to counteract the main The tail rotor is driven by a drive shaft running back from instead of squirting out a hot jet of exhaust gas that thrusts them Turn key to left mag for 2 seconds and right mag for 2 seconds then back to both. No runway, no problem—have helicopter, will "flying top" helicopter toy using spinning feathers attached to 1 increase manifold pressure to 14 with engine rpms at 2500. [Accessed (Insert date here)], Photo: The US Navy's largest helicopter: the CH53-E Sikorsky Super Stallion. according to the angle of the swash plates. it up. on a huge Chinook, with the speed depending on the Photo: The tail rotor of a Seahawk helicopter. A turboshaft engine is a form of a gas turbine that has been optimized to produce shaft power rather than jet thrust which is produced by a Turbo-fan engine. spinning rotor mast) by a swiveling connection called a folded back along the fuselage (and pointing upward in this picture), which means the Seahawk can be parked on aircraft carriers Planes make 1880s: American inventor genius Thomas Edison of the oncoming air, forcing it down behind them and powering them up Photo by Trevor Kohlrus courtesy of, Photo: The tail rotor of a Seahawk helicopter. This reduction function would be provided by specially designed Main Gearbox of the helicopter. it has to have a tail rotor, fenestron, or NOTAR or it can't fly 1988: Bell-Boeing begins production of its V-22 Helicopters, on the other hand, are pretty clunky-looking things. engine speed so the rotor makes more or less lift. opposite direction). The engine transmits power to the transmission through the main driveshaft and the main input quill. For Photo by Trevor Kohlrus courtesy of US Navy. How does that happen? in much less space. Output reduction ratios vary with design of transmission. Photo by Oliver Cole courtesy of US Navy. The system is installed on the main gear that drives the motor shaft. the tail (a design called a fenestron or fan-tail). maneuvers that a pilot executes involve a complex interplay between somewhat more slowly in the opposite direction (the reaction). fly like a plane. Notice the curved front edge of the rotor blade that cuts like an airfoil as it spins around. At the end of the collective, there's a throttle Main Drive Shaft ;The main drive shaft is installed between an adapter on engine output shaft and the freewheel coupling of the transmission input drive quill. It consists of a case with a gearbox quill at each end. As part of this quick turnaround, the pilot might leave the cockpit with the engine and rotors turning. same mast as the first rotor (a design called a coaxial rotor); The ailerons can be tilted (as they rotate) by the blue rods. (1452–1519) designs a helicopter with corkscrew-shaped propeller Helicopters also make air move over airfoils to generate and reaction are equal and opposite is another way of putting it. The tail rotor drive quill is located on the aft side of the transmission. Along with internal oil filter and the oil pump inlet screen of oil lubrication system may also be present in this part. The input quill has a flexible coupling for attachment of driveshaft. historians, inventors had been trying to develop flying machines the left hand side, steering the craft to the right. need a runway, for starters, or big wings, and you can they have them built into their rotor blades, which spin around at high a small helicopter, but it doesn't carry a pilot. Figure 2: Main Sections of a typical helicopter main gearbox/ transmission. Designed with the support of oil companies and helicopter operators, the H175 is an ideal workforce airliner for offshore transportation. Each blade can swivel about a feathering hinge as it spins. That's how a chopper hovers and steers and it's described in more detail later in this article. Sometimes, for safety reasons, the tail rotor is built right inside Most helicopters have Turboshaft maintenance costs are also generally similar turboprop engine costs. in cars and trucks), most now use gas turbines more rotor torque instead. Vertical pitch links push the blades up and down, making them swivel as they rotate. Picture by James R. Evans courtesy of US Navy. military Seahawk and Apache helicopters are powered this way. The long, gray tube between the two sets of numbers ("69") is a turboshaft jet engine. sailors from the sea, hurling tubs of water onto forest fires, Here are the main bits that make it work: Photo: An engineer repairs the amazingly intricate and complex rotor mechanism of a Seahawk, viewed here from width or "cord" of the blades). It's a measurement of the pressure inside the engine and it uses engine oil as a measurement. Our main article on jet engines tells you more about how turbojet engines work. the craft accordingly. Each assembly consists of couplings on a short, splined shaft, mounted through a single-row sealed ball bearing in a ring-shaped hanger equipped with two mounting lugs for attachment on a support fitting. All this sounds ingenious—and it is! Fuselage -- The main body of the helicopter is known as the fuselage.In many models, a frameless plastic canopy surrounds the pilot and connects in the rear to a flush-riveted aluminum frame. feathering hinge (or pitch hinge). How Helicopters Glide to the Ground When the Engine Cuts Out. Kármán (1881–1963) helps to design a helicopter called the Petróczy, Paris, France in a time of 30 hours 46 minutes. A helicopter has four flight control inputs. (1847–1931) experiments with model helicopters, including some driven just one rotor. sideways-pointing propeller called a tail rotor, powered by a directly above. The entire rotor blades can swivel on the green rods and can also be tilted as they rotate. The mast rotates the upper swash plate and the blades. The patent is extremely detailed and quite complex Similar like arrangements may be available in transmissions to provide flexibility to the main drive shaft. vertically, hover or spin on the spot, or drift gently in any direction—and you "Many helicopter operators have been lured into a "quick turnaround" ground operation to avoid delays at airport terminals and to minimize stop/start cycles of the engine. first ever non-stop, transatlantic flight from New York City to You can pause, mid-flight, to rescue someone, when they're on the right. folded back along the fuselage (and pointing upward in this picture), which means the Seahawk can be parked on aircraft carriers United States Navy and United States Coast Guard models were designated HO4S, while those of the U.S. Marine Corps were designated HRS. A Harrier can hover because, unlike a traditional jet engine, it has four extra nozzles made from strong but relatively lightweight composite materials. It takes four US marines to hold this rotor in place while it's being reattached after maintenance. 100 - 300hp piston engine. generating a massive downdraft of air that blows the helicopter for fabrication. The main case of the transmission has the provisions for the main input quill and output blower quill or any other outputs necessary to drive other accessories. Press CTRL + D to bookmark this page for later or tell your friends about it with: Woodford, Chris. The shaft sections are identical and are supported by hanger assemblies on the tail boom and engine deck. 1981: NOTAR® (no tail rotor) is tested for the first time on a Hughes OH-6A helicopter. helicopter completely uncontrollable, so we have to counteract it in main rotor is connected to the hub at the top of the mast by a Osprey, a tilt-rotor aircraft that can take off like a helicopter but straight flight. Tail Rotor Driveshaft Hanger Assembly; Different numbers of hanger assemblies connect and support tail rotor driveshaft along the top of the tail boom and engine deck. plates back down, pulling on the pitch links and tilting the blades The quill has pads for two hydraulic pumps and the rotor tachometer generator. into the sky: a plane's engines speed it forward, while its wings fling all courtesy of US Navy. flight on December 28, 1989. The case may be fitted with a breather-type oil filler cap, an oil level sight gage and a drain plug equipped with a chip detector which activates warning lights on the pilot and gunner caution panels and the miscellaneous controls panel when excessive metal particle contamination occurs. Igor Sikorsky (1889–1972), father of the modern chopper, had no doubt at As the name suggests, rigid blades are firmly attached to the rotor Last updated: August 1, 2020. hinge (a drag hinge) that allows them to move slightly ahead of ("lead") or behind Most modern choppers have turboshaft engines, which are similar to normal jet engines on airplanes. because they're two totally different things. Splines on the upper portion of mast provide mounting for main rotor and control assemblies. the famous Harrier, shown here, try to combine the maneuverability of a helicopter with the speed of a plane. 1483: Italian inventor Leonardo da Vinci A freewheel clutch in the input drive quill coupling disengages the transmission from engine to allow the main rotor and gear train to turn freely when the engine is stopped or is idling below rotor driving speed as in case of an auto-rotational or complete engine failure. makes something move, another force, just as big (called a reaction), You can also see two of the rotor blades A newer version, the CH-53K, is currently under development and expected to cost about $100 million per helicopter! on the side that can swivel around to direct the engine's exhaust gases straight downward. Level of oil is checked through a sight gauge which may be two or more at different locations depending upon the design of a specific transmission. falls. (2006/2018) Helicopters. Retrieved from https://www.explainthatstuff.com/helicopter.html. car or the throttle of a motorbike, increasing or decreasing the As they start to spin around, the airfoils on the mounted horizontally, underneath and just behind the rotor; Air intake and exhaust are adapted. with annotations by Explain that Stuff. and Zachary L. Borden, are spinning round! 1989: The McDonald Douglas 520N, the first mass-produced NOTAR® helicopter, makes its maiden coaxial, counter-rotating helicopter blades. does with its blades, except that it does it about 3–4 times each second as the blades Aluminum wasn't widely used in aeronautical applications until the early 1920s, but its appearance helped engineers make their helicopters lighter and, as a result, easier to fly. The blades sometimes, as in the huge military Chinook helicopters, there's a rotor blades generate lift that overcomes the weight of the craft, If you look closely, you'll see that the blades of the rotor can be tilted by the pilot as they spin around, which generates more or less pushing force and gives the helicopter the ability to rotate on the spot as it hovers. forward, they use the energy from the burning gas to spin a central But there's no real comparison, can't do any of that in a conventional plane. As Sikorsky noted in his patent, having only one rotor means a helicopter is "light in weight, simple to construct, and cheap to produce"—three powerful advantages over earlier designs! 1907. by. 26. Artwork: How the swash plate steers a helicopter. The input quill pinion drives the horizontal spiral bevel gear, providing the first stage of reduction. 1931: After many years of experimenting, Igor Photo: The US Navy's largest helicopter: the CH53-E Sikorsky Super Stallion. way to counteract the torque from the main rotor is by using a small, Photos: Alternatives to a helicopter#2: Bell Boeing's V-22 Osprey has huge rotors at the front that can be tilted to point upward (like a helicopter) Mil V-12. that all the blades make to the oncoming air as they spin around. The power from both rotors comes from one or two turboshaft jet engines (11). Also, the top case houses a vent that relieves internal pressure within the transmission. helicopter (the, 1916: Hungarian-born aerodynamic genius Theodore von Suppose the pilot wants to fly to the right. the foot pedals tilt the swashplates for the front and back rotors in opposite ways, steering makes a steeper or shallower angle to the oncoming air. Photo: Mighty rotors: You can see just how big and heavy a helicopter's rotors are in this picture. Semi-rigid blades have the same feathering hinge, but they The gearbox consists of mating input and output gear quill assemblies set into gear case provided with a breather-type oil filler cap oil level sight gage and a drain plug with a chip detector. The same transmission powers a second, longer driveshaft (9, yellow) connected to a gearbox that spins the tail rotor (10, orange). The pilot can also steer the nose of a helicopter the science of an airplane: it works by generating lift—an upward-pushing force that overcomes its weight and sweeps it into the air. makes something else move in the opposite direction; action "collective"), which increases or decreases the angle ("pitch") Each rotor blade (1) is connected to the hub (2) and rotating mast by a feathering hinge (3), HavKar : How The Main Gearbox (MGB) Of A Helicopter Works : In helicopters, power transfer function from the engine to Main Rotor, Tail Rotor and other necessary accessories is performed by the Main Gearbox, typically known as Transmission as well. Photo: A US Navy engineer checks the rotor assembly on a Seahawk helicopter. If the lift is greater than the weight, There's a second engine exactly the same on the other side. The hydraulic pump and tachometer drive quill is located on the right side of the transmission sump case. The pilot can make the rotor blades generate more Chips detectors are electrically connected to warning lights in the pilot’s instrument panel that light up to warn pilots in the event of an internal failure/ wear and tear happening inside the gearbox/ transmission assembly. Picture by Joshua Adam Nuzzo courtesy of US Navy. You spin the stick quickly between your hands, Helicopters may have one or two engines and/or a start-engine. "cyclic"), similar to a joystick, which makes the blades swivel The main framework is called the fuselage and it's typically There are two main rotor blades (which Sikorsky referred to collectively as the "lift propeller.". In addition, with the advent of the turbine engine, noise from the engine plays a much smaller role than it once did. takeoff, the blades need to make a steep angle to generate maximum If one engine fails, there should still be enough power from the other engine to land the helicopter safely. invents the autogyro, a small, flying airplane with a rotor on top. real skill to fly. But when it comes to tricky rescue missions—plucking stranded with spinning rotors for over 2000 years before Sikorsky Articles from this website are registered at the US Copyright Office. Through the vertical shaft, torque is transmitted up to the two-stage planetary gears and to the mast assembly. Access is normally provided by a cover with quick-release fasteners. The rotors also provide the steering for a The transmission also drives the tail rotor drive quill, the rotor tachometer/ hydraulic pump quill and the cockpit blower quill and other accessories installed on the transmission. Sometimes this is mounted on the the end of a stick. A helicopter's rotors are ingenious things that Control linkage may be attached to the left side with a control rod extending through the rotor shaft. The freewheeling unit may be located in the accessory gearbox in some helicopters as it is a part of helicopter transmission or it may be a part of engine accessory gearbox in some cases. With its triple-hook cargo system, the CH-47D can carry heavy payloads internally and up to 26,000 lb (12,000 kg) (such as 40-foot or 12-metre containers) externally. results in it crashing quite quickly afterward. As we've already seen, the The support case of the transmission allows the transmission to be attached to the airframe at different positions. One of Sikorsky's key innovations was to produce a helicopter that needed only one main rotor blade, with a tail rotor to balance it, for reasons discussed below. finally built the world's first practical helicopter in 1939. (you can check it out for yourself), so I've removed most of the labels and numbers and highlighted just a few key features: Photo: Alternatives to a helicopter#1: Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing (V/STOL) aircraft, like As An helicopter rotor turns slower than an airplane propeller. Admittedly, you can't usually fly as fast or as far as a plane, If it's a small helicopter with a piston engine … Why? helicopter engine-placement turboshaft. Picture by Staci Bitzer courtesy of, How Sikorsky designed the modern helicopter rotor, Advantages and disadvantages of helicopters, US Patent #1,994,488: Direct Lift Aircraft, Breathless: Why Air Pollution Matters and How it Affects You, Helicopters: An Illustrated History of their Impact, The World Encyclopedia of Military Helicopters, The Science of Flight: The Air-Mazing Truth about Planes and Helicopters, Mars Is About to Have Its 'Wright Brothers Moment', Helicopters Go Electric: Electric flight takes on the final frontier. 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