For traditional vertical take-off and landing rotors, the rotor on the vertical axis is the most common solution, as seen in helicopters and multi-rotor aircraft. A less popular solution is a gyroplane, which consists of a pair of rotors with horizontal blades that rotate around a horizontal axis. [Nicholas Rehm] Built a Remote control gyroplane As part of the research project and provided us with an excellent overview of this unique craft in the video after the break.
Also called cyclogyro, this idea is not new, the first one was built in 1909. The first flight was in the 1930s after a long time, but it was soon discovered that they were too unstable to be manually flown by humans, so the idea was shelved. Thanks to modern microcontrollers, researchers have recently been able to build small-scale versions, just like the small example of the University of Texas.
Lift is generated using four or more airfoils on each of the two cycloid rotors. At the top and bottom of the rotation, they have a positive angle of attack and a neutral angle on either side. The angle of attack of the blades can be adjusted to generate forward or backward thrust. An additional motor with a traditional propeller is installed on the nose to offset the torque generated by the main rotor, similar to the tail rotor of a helicopter.
Unlike multi-rotors, the rotorcraft does not need to tilt forward to move horizontally. The blades also do not need to be thinner and twisted like a traditional rotorcraft, because the relative air velocity remains constant along the length of the blade. However, they have some significant shortcomings that may prevent them from going beyond the experimental stage in the foreseeable future. The rotor is mechanically very complex and needs to be very light and handy, because the design does not have strong structural strength.This proves [Nicholas] When a rotor arm is broken in a slight collision.However, this is an excellent proof of adaptability [Nicholas]’Open source dRehmFlight flight controller, he also uses it to pilot the VTOL F-35 and the belly-flipping interstellar spacecraft.
Would you be surprised that this is not our first hacking of a rotorcraft?