Helicopter.
Publié le 11/05/2013
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naturally flaps down so as to increase lift.
Flapping allows the differences in lift caused by uneven rotor tip speed to cancel out, producing a stable ride.
Many helicoptersuse mechanical hinges with lubricated bearings, but some use flexible straps made of a composite material in order to reduce the required maintenance.
Helicopters require different amounts of lift and thrust at different times during flight, because the aerodynamic forces acting on them change during hovering andacceleration.
The power needed to overcome the aerodynamic drag, or wind resistance, of a helicopter increases as speed increases.
There is also drag on the bladesthemselves as they pass through the air.
And there is the power needed to produce lift, which decreases as the helicopter moves faster.
These separate forces combineto require more power for flight as a helicopter takes off and hovers, but less power as it flies forward.
However, as speed increases, eventually more power is needed.For example, a helicopter may require 1,100 horsepower to hover.
But at a forward speed of 110 km/h (70 mph) the required power may drop to approximately 600horsepower, since the helicopter is moving rather than hovering.
But as speed increases, so does drag, and so at a speed of around 240 km/h (150 mph), as much as1,200 horsepower may be required.
Helicopter speed in forward flight is also limited because of physical stresses on the blades at high speeds.
As forward speeds approach 320 km/h (200 mph), the tipspeed of the advancing rotor blade approaches the speed of sound, increasing vibration levels and required power.
The Westland Lynx, a British military helicopter,holds the speed record for a helicopter.
The Lynx achieved a speed of 401 km/h (249 mph) in 1986.
IV USES FOR HELICOPTERS
Helicopters come in many sizes and are designed for a variety of roles.
One of the smallest and least expensive helicopters available is the two-seat Robinson R22,popular for flight training and aerial observation.
The R22 has a gross weight of 620 kg (1,370 lb).
Its two-bladed rotor has a diameter of 7.6 m (25.2 ft).
The maximumforward speed of the R-22 is 180 km/h (112 mph), with a cruising speed of 153 km/h (95 mph).
The largest helicopter is the 80-seat Russian Mi-26 military helicopter.Its eight-bladed rotor has a diameter of 32 m (105 ft) and supports a gross weight of 56,000 kg (123,450 lb).
Its maximum speed is 295 km/h (183 mph) with acruising speed of 254 km/h (158 mph).
Because of its ability to hover and to take off and land vertically, the helicopter performs many functions that a fixed-wing aircraft cannot.
For civilian use, these includeemergency medical services, search and rescue missions, police services, support of offshore oil operations, news and traffic reporting, and business travel.
Thousandsof lives have been saved by helicopters, which have rescued people from the tops of burning buildings, plucked them from trees surrounded by ravaging flood waters,or lifted them from the decks of sinking ships.
Helicopters also play an important role as military aircraft.
Helicopters were first used in significant numbers during the Korean War (1950-1953), evacuating woundedsoldiers from the battlefield to field hospitals.
During the Vietnam War (1959-1975) helicopters also participated in combat missions.
An attack helicopter can providefire support to ground troops or serve as an antitank vehicle, capable of firing wire-guided or laser-guided missiles.
Helicopters are frequently used to move troopsquickly into and out of combat zones.
Navies use helicopters equipped with sonar buoys to listen for enemy submarines.
Other naval helicopters can rescue downedpilots from the sea or tow sleds that sweep for underwater mines.
V HISTORY OF THE HELICOPTER
Inventors and engineers perfected the design of the helicopter gradually, over many years.
Original inspiration came from objects like an ancient Chinese top, whichrose upward when spun rapidly.
One of the earliest inventors to design a helicopter was Leonardo da Vinci.
In one of his notebooks from 1480, he illustrated a modelhelicopter driven by a clockwork motor.
His notes imply that the model flew, but, from his sketch, an antitorque device is not apparent.
One of the first mechanical devices actually to hover was the Bréguet-Richet Gyroplane No.
1, designed by French aircraft pioneer Louis Charles Bréguet.
It first flew inFrance on September 29, 1907, piloted by one of Bréguet’s engineers.
Lifted by four rotors 8 m (26 ft) in diameter, this fragile craft hovered about 0.6m (2 ft) off theground for a minute while being restrained by four men holding on to the frame.
Without a control system, it was far from being a practical helicopter, but itdemonstrated that it was possible to lift a person vertically by means of powered rotors.
On November 13, 1907, Frenchman Paul Cornu became the first person in history to rise vertically in powered flight, completely unrestrained from any support.
TheCornu helicopter used two rotors attached to each end of a skeletal frame and was powered by a 24-horsepower engine.
Although Cornu achieved a historic first, thecontrols of his machine were completely inadequate, and the craft never developed into a practical helicopter.
Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva paved the way for the development of a successful helicopter, but never built a helicopter himself.
Cierva developed the autogiro,which resembles the helicopter but which uses an unpowered rotor.
The rotor autorotates, or autogyrates, as the autogiro is pulled through the air by a separatepropeller.
The turning rotor provides lift much like an aircraft wing.
In January 1923, Cierva successfully flew his C.4 autogiro, which incorporated articulated rotorblades.
This allowed the blades to flap freely up and down in response to the unsteady aerodynamic forces that arise in forward flight.
The articulated rotor was the technical breakthrough that led others to develop the successful helicopter.
Cierva might have eventually done so himself, but he died in an airplane crash in December1936.
Germany made rapid strides in helicopter development in the 1930s and 1940s.
The FA-61, designed by Heinrich Focke, flew for the first time on June 26, 1936.
TheFA-61 was the first practical design for a maneuverable helicopter.
In 1937, as a propaganda stunt for the Nazi regime, the renowned female pilot Hanna Reitsch flewthe FA-61 inside the city of Berlin’s Deutschlandhalle sports arena.
Another German helicopter, the FL-282 Kolibri, was used by the German navy during World War II(1939-1945).
It could fly at 140 km/h (90 mph) and reach an altitude of 4,000 m (13,000 ft) with a payload of 360 kg (800 lb).
It was the first helicopter designproduced in quantity, but only a few became operational before the war ended.
Igor Sikorsky, a Russian-born American aeronautical engineer, flew the first successful single main rotor helicopter, the VS-300, in 1939.
He flew the final version of hisVS-300 helicopter in 1941.
Unlike previous helicopter designs, the VS-300 was the first helicopter to use a tail rotor to counteract the torque of the main rotor.
Thisrepresented a major accomplishment that has been copied by the majority of helicopter designs built since.
Sikorsky’s research and development of the VS-300 led tothe R4, the first American helicopter built in large quantities.
During the 1990s, aeronautical engineers applied radar-evading stealth technology to the design of certain military helicopters ( see Stealth Aircraft).
The first helicopter to incorporate this technology was the U.S.
Army’s RAH-66 Comanche, developed jointly by the Boeing Company and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation.
The fuselage isshaped to reduce the helicopter’s visibility to enemy radar, and weapons are carried internally to further reduce the helicopter’s detection by radar.
The Comanche isalso designed to radiate less heat than other helicopters in order to evade infrared (heat-seeing) detectors.
See also Aviation; Military Aviation.
Contributed By:Barnes W.
McCormickMicrosoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
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