Compound helicopter
First Claim
1. A compound helicopter, comprising:
- a fuselage having a nose and a tail;
a wing structure mounted on said fuselage;
a main helicopter rotor operably disposed on top of said fuselage, the main helicopter rotor having a plurality of rotor blades, the rotor blades defining a rotor disk;
a propeller operably disposed on the nose of said fuselage ahead of said rotor disk;
a powerplant disposed in said fuselage;
a propeller drive train connected between said powerplant and said propeller in order to drive said propeller; and
a main rotor drive train connected between said powerplant and said main rotor to drive said main rotor.
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Abstract
The compound helicopter is a hybrid combination of a helicopter and a fixed wing aircraft. A conventional helicopter is modified with a nose-mounted tractor propeller to provide thrust for forward flight. Wings are added to provide lift during forward flight. With the propeller providing thrust and the wings lift during forward flight, the helicopter rotor blades are unloaded during cruising flight to allow increased forward speed by avoiding limitations of conventional helicopters, including retreating rotor blade stall and maximum rotor blade tip speeds. A single powerplant drives both the main rotor and the nose-mounted propeller. The compound helicopter employs high aspect ratio wings with large flaps that may be extended to reduce vertical drag during vertical flight and hovering operations.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A compound helicopter, comprising:
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a fuselage having a nose and a tail;
a wing structure mounted on said fuselage;
a main helicopter rotor operably disposed on top of said fuselage, the main helicopter rotor having a plurality of rotor blades, the rotor blades defining a rotor disk;
a propeller operably disposed on the nose of said fuselage ahead of said rotor disk;
a powerplant disposed in said fuselage;
a propeller drive train connected between said powerplant and said propeller in order to drive said propeller; and
a main rotor drive train connected between said powerplant and said main rotor to drive said main rotor. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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2. (canceled)
Specification