• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.73-79
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• 2010

A preliminary study on a length-variable rotor blade for a small unmanned helicopter has been conducted. After surveys on previous researches, and examining requirements for application to a small unmanned helicopter, a length-variable rotor blade was designed and manufactured to be driven by centrifugal force from rotor revolution with no mechanical actuator. The rotor blade was divided into a fixed inboard section and an outboard section sliding in span-wise direction. In order to determine the operating conditions of the length-variable rotor during revolution, and to derive the design variables of extension spring and rotor weight, a series of analyses from multi-body dynamics solution were conducted. The manufactured prototype was verified of its length-varying mechanism from a rotor stand, the results and required future improvements are discussed.