Extended Arm Bifilar and Method to Eliminate Second Order Vibration Excitation

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to the construction and use of bifilar absorbers as applied to helicopter rotors.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Prior to this invention bifilar absorbers as used on helicopter rotors have operated at approximately .+-. 30.degree. amplitude at design forward speed. To prevent undertuning at any speed up to design forward speed the bifilar absorbers have been overtuned by increasing the tuning pin diameters. This results in dissimilar pendulum motions which produce rotating system vibratory excitations at twice the tuned frequency of the bifilar at all flight conditions except the design forward speed at which all of the masses of the bifilars reach an amplitude at which overtuning no longer exists. Due to dissimilar motions of the several absorbers on the rotor, these excitations will excite the fixed system, including the fuselage, at a frequency of 2w.sub.n-1, where w.sub.n = the tuned frequency of the bifilar absorber at the design forward speed.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,809, issued to W. Paul et al, illusrates a prior art installation of bifilar absorbers on helicopter rotors. The present invention is directed to improvements in such installations.

It is a principal object of this invention to provide an improved bifilar absorber installation and an improved method of operating bifilar absorbers as installed on helicopter rotors in which the amplitude of the bifilar masses is limited to angles at or below .+-. 15.degree. up to design forward speed, thereby minimizing overtuning of the bifilars, to improve performance at all speeds and elimination of most dissimilar mass motions and the resulting second order vibrations.

Another object of this invention is to provide a helicopter rotor with bifilar absorbers in which bifilar motions are maintained in the linear range with no reductions in the bifilar/airframe mass ratio which is critical to bifilar effectiveness.

Still another object of this invention is to radially extend the bifilar absorbers with no reduction in mass to minimize overtuning by limiting amplitude of the bifilars to angles below .+-. 15.degree..

The Paul U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,809 mentions, Col. 8, lines 62 to 68, that the bifilar radius can be doubled while halving the mass to produce the same force output with no reduction in amplitude of motion. However, without a reduction in motion the bifilar would still require overtuning and thus produce the undesirable second order vibration and also reduce bifilar effectiveness at all speeds except the design forward speed.

In furtherance of the above objects the length of the bifilar support arm measured from the axis of rotation of the rotor to the center of gravity of the bifilar mass and the mass of the bifilar required to absorb excitations at pendulum amplitudes of approximately .+-. 30.degree. is defined. This mass without reduction in weight is then mounted on a support arm of twice the length of the previous arm, thus halving the pendular motion while maintaining the original force output. Since at this reduced amplitude the bifilar motions are within the linear range the need for overtuning, with its inevitable second order vibration excitation to the fuselage, is eliminated.

A yet further object of this invention is generally to improve bifilar absorber installations for helicopter rotors.

FIG. 1 is a partial plan view of a helicopter rotor showing a prior art installation of bifilar vibration absorbers;

FIG. 2 is a sectional elevation showing an absorber supporting arm of FIG. 1;

FIG. 2A is a similar view, drawn to the same scale, showing an absorber supporting arm of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a curve showing single pendulum amplitude plotted against forward speed for the installation of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a curve showing bifilar overtuning plotted against forward speed for the installation of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a curve showing pendulum amplitude for the installation of FIG. 1 plotted against airspeed in a helicopter rotor having four bifilar absorbers;

FIG. 6 is a curve showing single pendulum amplitude plotted against airspeed for the installation of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is a curve comparing residual excitation plotted against forward speed for the installations of FIGS. 1 and 2; and

FIG. 8 is a curve similar to FIG. 5 for the improved bifilar installation of this invention.

FIG. 9 is a curve showing second harmonic excitation plotted against pendulum amplitude.

FIG. 1 shows a prior art helicopter rotor including a rotor head 10 rotatable about an upright axis 12 and equipped with a support member 14 for a plurality of bifilar vibration absorbers 16, two of which are shown in this figure. Support member 14 includes a central ring 18 equipped with depending lugs 20 by which it is fixed to rotor head 10 by bolts 22 for rotation therewith in a plane normal to axis 12. Ring 18 has radially extending arms 24 which terminate in attaching portions 26 for bifilar absorbers. Each absorber consists essentially of a pendulous element including a mass 28 having similar upper and lower arms of which only the upper arm 30 is shown in FIG. 1 between which attaching portion 26 of arm 24 is received. The arms of mass 28 and attaching portion 26 of arm 24 have large, generally circular apertures 30a through which tuning pins 32 of the absorbers extend. Apertures 30a may have bushings 34, as indicated in FIG. 2, over which pins 32 move in a rolling fashion as the pendulous element swings.

FIG. 2A shows our new and improved bifilar support member which includes a central ring 38 equipped with two annular series of holes 40,42 by which it is attached to rotor hub 10 by bolts (not shown) and a longer radial arm 44 which terminates in a bifilar absorber attaching portion 26a similar to portion 26 in FIG. 2.

Prior to this invention bifilar absorbers as used on helicopter rotors have operated at approximately .+-. 30.degree. amplitude at design forward speed. This is shown in the curve of FIG. 3. Due to the non-linear nature of the pendulum absorber, natural frequency will decrease with increasing amplitude. In order to prevent undertuning at any speed up to design forward speed, the bifilars have been initially overtuned. This is accomplished by increasing the diameter of the tuning pins 32 and results in the curve plotted in FIG. 4. This overtuning results in differences in amplitude and phase between the motions of all bifilar masses on the rotor at all flight conditions except the one in which sufficient input force exists to produce an amplitude high enough to force all of the bifilar masses to the amplitude at which all overtuning is eliminated. This situation is illustrated in FIG. 5 where pendulum amplitude is plotted against airspeed.

An additional disadvantage of the prior installation of FIGS. 1 and 2 occurs due to the fact that the bifilar pendulums produce a second harmonic force which, if all pendulum motions are not equal, will transfer into the fixed system, including the fuselage, of the helicopter at one harmonic of rotor speed less, i.e.

w.sub.n pendulum = 3/rev.

2nd harmonic = 6/rev.

Fixed system excitation at 5/rev, where w.sub.n = the tuned frequency of the bifilar absorber. By this invention these difficulties caused by overtuning and the resulting second harmonic forces are eliminated by providing an installation in which the amplitude of the bifilar masses is limited to angles at or below 15.degree., thereby minimizing overtuning of the bifilars to improve performance at all speeds, as shown in FIG. 7, and elimination of most dissimilar mass motions and the resulting second order vibrations. FIG. 9 shows very clearly the advantages of operating the bifilar absorbers at or below a pendulum amplitude of 15.degree. where the second harmonic excitation is relatively low rather than, as prior to this invention, at 30.degree. amplitude.

The bifilar absorber is first sized to determine the mass required to absorb the input excitation force at .+-. 30.degree. of motion. The bifilar support arm is then extended to reduce the motion to .+-. 15.degree. with no reduction in mass. This extension of the bifilar support arm is then extended to reduce the motion to .+-. 15.degree. with no reduction in mass. This extension of the bifilar support arm is roughly equal to a doubling of the length of the arm in the FIG. 1 installation and eliminates overtuning requirements, maintains equal motions of the several bifilars of the installation and reduces any second harmonic force by a significant amount. FIG. 8 shows the results of this invention, especially when compared with FIG. 5 which is representative of the prior art bifilar installations.

While we have shown and described one embodiment of our invention, we do not wish to be limited to the exact details of construction shown and described for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in this art.