Abstract
An agricultural unmanned helicopter was suggested for an alternative to current pesticide application methods to solve such problems as high cost, low efficiency, shirking task and unsafe work. To pursuit this trend, researches on the development of unmanned helicopters have been accelerated in Korea as well. In this research, a guide type centrifugal clutch that plays an important role in the unmanned helicopter was studied. Theoretical analyses and experimental tests were conducted for designing an optimal clutches. Main design factors of the guide type centrifugal clutch were found to be spring constant, free length of spring, mass of friction sector, contact area, allowable pressure, number of friction sector, friction coefficient, radius of drum, and clutch arrangement. And these design factors could be the functions of engaging engine speed and desired power transfer capacity. The result of the single clutch test showed the power transfer capacity of 14.1 PS at 5,800 rpm and the result of the dual clutch test showed that the capacity of 17.7 PS at 5,600 rpm. These experimental results agreed well the theoretical simulations.
