Little Nellie's Big Brother......
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Saturday, 14 March 2009
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6 comments:
A modern-day Fairey Rotodyne! Since the Carter vehicle depicted evidently does not have tip jets as Rotodyne did, and since it has no tail rotor, how does it counter the torque applied to its main rotor? It's a great concept, but the Rotodyne was a slicker-lookin' aircraft. Too bad they did not have some of today's technologies in the late '50s. I think the Carter website has a mention of Rotodyne in there somewhere...
Hmmm... just went to the Carter Technologies webpage at http://www.cartercopters.com/faq-general.html and the main rotor is spun up ONLY ON THE GROUND at zero AoA so no lift is generated; the resistance of the landing gear on the ground surface counters initial torque during spinup; and depleted uranium blade tips store angular momentum, so that a powered rotor is not needed for lift and cruise. AoA is adjusted, probably by conventional swashplates, to develop lift for takeoff. Ingenious; they save weight and complexity by not needing a tail rotor. Speaking of complex, it would be interesting sometime to see details of how Fairey engineers developed seals for the gas path of compressed air to travel from the powerplants of the Rotodyne, up thru the rotor hub, and out to its blade tips where fuel was injected and ignited for powered rotation. Those screaming tipjets were a major problem that helped lead to Rotodyne's demise. Shame; it was waaay cool. BTW Revell Germany is reissuing their Rotodyne kit next month; Hannants will sell it.
Well, an autogyro anyway.
The main rotor is driven by the engine through a clutch, and during normal flight the clutch is disengaged.
That pop-up start is seriously nifty, innit?
Have a look at the Groen Brothers website:
http://www.groenbros.com/index2.php
Sikorsky proposed a slowed single rotor aircraft in 1951:
http://www.anigrand.com/AA2037_XV-2.htm
What torque is applied to an autogyro's rotor except on the ground* when the rotor can be clutched into the engine for a jump take-off? The rest of the time the rotor freely rotates as a consequence of forward motion.
* undercarriage counters torque on ground
It needs no anti-torque rotor because the main rotor is not powered... therefore there is no torque. The rotor is there only to provide lift, not thrust.
As shown in the video, the CarterCopter has a wing to produce lift above a certain airspeed and hopes to be able to overcome the speed restrictions of normal gyro and helicopters by slowing the rotor and reducing its angle of attack in flight, therefore avoiding retreating blade stall.
An amazing machine...
I hope they succeed.
It's an 'autogyro', not a helicopter. The rotor is unpowered except during the "jump take-off".
Cheers
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