HELICOPTER WITH CROSS-FLOW FAN

• US 20150191245A1
• Filed: 05/22/2014
• Published: 07/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Airbus Helicopters Deutschland Gmbh (Airbus SE)
• Original Assignee: Airbus Helicopters Deutschland Gmbh (Airbus SE)
• Inventors: MORES, Sebastian, D'ALASCIO, Alessandro, BEBESEL, Marius
• Granted Patent: US 9,409,643 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 2027/8245 using air jets
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 27/06 with single rotor
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 27/82 characterised by the provision of an auxiliary rotor or fluid-jet device for counter-balancing lifting rotor torque or changing direction of rotorcraft

Abstract

A helicopter with a fuselage (4), at least one engine, a roll axis, at least one main rotor, and at least one housing (2) mounted to said fuselage (4). An air inlet (8) and an air outlet (7) are provided along at least a part of a circumference of the at least one housing (2), said air inlet (8) and said air outlet (7) being formed by angularly offset and separate gaps between an inside segment (33) and an outside segment (34) essentially extending respectively longitudinally in direction of said roll axis. At least one rotatable compressor (1) with a plurality of airfoil blades (6) is provided radial inside said at least one housing (2) between said air inlet (8) and said air outlet (7), said at least one rotatable compressor (1) being drivable by said at least one engine about a fan axis (5) and each chord of said airfoil blades (6) is essentially radial oriented with regard to said fan axis (5).

Claims

1. A helicopter comprising

a fuselage, at least one driving unit, a roll axis,

at least one main rotor mounted to said fuselage and drivable by said at least one engine about a yaw axis perpendicular to said roll axis, and

at least one housing mounted to said fuselage, said at least one housing extending essentially in direction of said roll axis with an offset relative to said yaw axis,

wherein

an air inlet for incoming air and an air outlet for outgoing air are provided along at least a part of a circumference of the at least one housing, said air inlet and said air outlet being formed by angularly offset and separate gaps between an inside segment and an outside segment essentially extending respectively in direction of said roll axis,

at least one rotatable compressor with a plurality of airfoil blades is provided radial inside said at least one housing between said air inlet and said air outlet, said at least one rotatable compressor being drivable by said at least one driving unit about a fan axis, and

each chord of said airfoil blades is essentially radial oriented with regard to said fan axis

wherein

said at least one rotatable compressor and said at least one housing are configured to produce in operation of said at least one rotatable compressor:

lift oriented in the region of the air inlet into a direction opposite to a flow direction of the incoming air due to ingestion of said incoming air into said compressor, and

lateral thrust oriented in the region of the air outlet into a direction opposite to a flow direction of the outgoing air for anti-torque.

2. The helicopter according to claim 1, wherein said inside segment and said outside segment of the at least one housing are pivotable around the fan axis.

3. The helicopter according to claim 2, wherein remote control means are provided for remote control of the angular position of said inside segment and said outside segment of the housing.

4. The helicopter according to claim 1, wherein the air outlet of the housing is designed as a diffusor.

5. The helicopter according to claim 1, wherein an output shaft is provided from the main gear box and said rotatable compressor is driven by said output shaft.

6. The helicopter according to claim 1, wherein the rotatable compressor is driven electrically.

7. The helicopter according to claim 1, wherein auxiliary forward propelling devices are provided and the rotatable compressor is adapted to drive said auxiliary forward propelling devices, e.g. propeller, etc.

8. The helicopter according to claim 1, wherein the housing of the cross-flow fan is split into a front section, an aft section and/or a mid-section, the front section being closest to the yaw axis, the aft section being distal to the yaw axis and the mid-section being between the front section and the aft section, said front section, the aft section and/or the mid-section being separately and independently from each other pivotable about the fan axis.

9. The helicopter according to claim 1, wherein two cross-flow fans, each with a compressor and a housing, are mounted parallel to each other and symmetric to a midplane on the fuselage.

10. The helicopter according to claim 1, wherein a width of the air inlet is greater than the width of the air outlet.

11. The helicopter according to claim 1, wherein the angular offset varies from 10°

to 90°

for an angle measured between a side from the fan axis to a lateral inlet delimitation of the air inlet and a side to a lateral outlet delimitation of the air outlet next to said lateral inlet delimitation of the air inlet.

12. The helicopter according to claim 1, wherein the angles from the fan axis of the compressor to the lateral inlet delimitations of the air inlet in the azimuth direction relative to the yaw axis vary for the lateral inlet delimitation between 350°

+/−

50° and

between 10°

+/−

50°

to the opposed lateral inlet delimitation with the yaw axis directed to the main rotor corresponding to 0° and

the degrees positive in clockwise direction.

13. The helicopter according to claim 12, wherein the angles from the fan axis of the compressor to the lateral outlet delimitations of the air outlet in the azimuth direction relative to the yaw axis vary on the lateral outlet delimitation between 215°

+/−

50° and

between 255°

+/−

50°

to the opposed lateral outlet delimitation.