Development of a Piezohydraulic Active Pitch Link for a Swashplateless Helicopter Rotor

Abstract

has gone into developing a swashplateless rotor technology in the field of rotorcraft. Swashplates are mechanically complex and cause parasitic drag penalty. A lot of investigation has gone into the field of on-blade schemes like active flaps which can perform the function of providing sucient actuation for primary control. Additionally, such devices can also be potentially used for Individual Blade Control (IBC) techniques to reduce noise and vibration in the helicopter. This study proposes the use of a hybrid hydraulic device as the pitch link of the rotor. Such a device can be used for the above mentioned primary and advanced control schemes while avoiding the need to manufacture new blades. This study concentrates on the feasibility study of an existing piezohydraulic actuator under centrifugal loads. The actuator is spun in a whirl chamber to achieve full scale centrifugal loading experienced by a UH-60 pitch link. The performance of the actuator is evaluated under these conditions for no-load and loaded cases.