Blade retention system
First Claim
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1. In a fully articulated rotor head of a rotary wing aircraft of the type including a rotor head rotatable about a central axis and at least one blade, an improved rotor blade retention system for coupling said head to said blade, said system comprising:
- retention means comprising (1) elastomeric flap bearing for carrying in shear substantially all and only the flapping motion of said blade about its flapping axis, (2) elastomeric lead-lag bearing, separate from said flap bearing means, for carrying in shear substantially all and only the lead-lag motion of said blade about its lead-lag axis, and (3) elastomeric pitch bearing, separate from said flap and lead-lag bearing, for carrying in shear substantially all and only the pitching motion of said blade about its pitch axis;
wherein all of said elastomeric bearing means carry centrifugal loads provided by the rotation of said blade about said central axis substantially entirely in compression.
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Abstract
A blade retention system for use in a fully articulated rotor head of a rotary wing aircraft is described. The retention system comprises a separate elastomeric bearing means for carrying loads in compression and accommodating motions about the respective flapping, lead-lag, and pitching axes of the rotor head in shear for each type of motion about the respective flapping, lead-lag and pitching axes of the rotor head.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. In a fully articulated rotor head of a rotary wing aircraft of the type including a rotor head rotatable about a central axis and at least one blade, an improved rotor blade retention system for coupling said head to said blade, said system comprising:
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retention means comprising (1) elastomeric flap bearing for carrying in shear substantially all and only the flapping motion of said blade about its flapping axis, (2) elastomeric lead-lag bearing, separate from said flap bearing means, for carrying in shear substantially all and only the lead-lag motion of said blade about its lead-lag axis, and (3) elastomeric pitch bearing, separate from said flap and lead-lag bearing, for carrying in shear substantially all and only the pitching motion of said blade about its pitch axis; wherein all of said elastomeric bearing means carry centrifugal loads provided by the rotation of said blade about said central axis substantially entirely in compression. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification