Electrically driven rotor concept for future rotorcraft.

The http://www.UniCopter.com/ElectrotorPlus.html consists of a 2-bladed rotor where the rotorhub has hub springs, or alternatively, offset teetering hinges, plus a control moment gyroscope; for enhanced cyclic control, particularly during zero-gravity.

The intent of this posting is to place this concept (invention) into the public domain.

Any critiques or recommendations will be appreciated.

Is the electric motor the primary power source or is it auxiliary?

If it is the primary source, I might be concerned about weight of the drive system as a whole (motor, batteries, controls etc.)  However, the electric drive does have a lot of attractive characteristics to help with efficiency, vibration and noise.

Your website mentions that the motor's rotor is rotating at 15K rpm.  The drawing shows what appears to be a fairly large diameter motor.  Do you feel that such a large diameter electric motor rotor turning at that speed would have adequate structural margins?

Your website seems to show lots of clever ideas.  Are you ever going to build anything?

thuelna;

Thanks for mentioning your concerns. Sorry for the belated reply but the E-mail notification was accidentally turned off.

Yes, the intent is that the electric motor be the primary source of power. The thinking (or hope) is that companies outside of the aerospace industry will develop better and lighter means of providing electrical power for mobile vehicles, over the next decade or two.

The motor in the drawings is oversize, as you say. Initially, it was intended that the motor turn at a slower speed. Later it was realized that the gyroscopic precession will be less than 90-degrees and that the actual angle will be a function of the difference between the rotational speed of the gyroscope's wheel and that of the helicopter's rotorhub. The speed of the motor was therefor increase to around 15K rpm.

"Are you ever going to build anything?"
Hopefully, one or more of the ideas will be prototyped. It is less likely that a complete craft will be built (at least not without help) since a full project must demand a focus and commitment that would leave little time to develop ideas outside of the specific project.  


Dave