• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.614-623
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• 2015

When the speed of a coaxial rotor helicopter in forward flight increases, the wake skew angle of the rotor increases and consequently the position of the vena contracta of the upper rotor with respect to the lower rotor changes. Considering ambient air and the effect of the upper rotor, this study proposes a nonuniform inflow model for the lower rotor of a coaxial rotor helicopter in forward flight. The total required power of the coaxial rotor system was compared against Dingeldein's experimental data, and the results of the proposed model were well matched. A plant model was also developed from first principles for flight simulation, unknown parameter estimation and control analysis. The coaxial rotor helicopter used for this study was manufactured for surveillance and reconnaissance and does not have any stabilizer bar. Therefore, a feedback controller was included during flight test and parameter estimation to overcome unstable situations. Predicted responses of parameter estimation and validation show good agreement with experimental data. Therefore, the methodology described in this paper can be used to develop numerical plant model, study non-uniform inflow model, conduct performance analysis and parameter estimation of coaxial rotor as well as other rotorcrafts in forward flight.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.101-107
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• 2007

A coaxial rotor flying robot is developed for surveying and reconnoitering various circumstances under calamity environment. The robot has two contrarotating rotors on a common axis, an embedded microcontroller, an IMU(Inertial Measurement Unit), an IR sensor for height control, a micro camera for surveillance, ultrasonic position sensors and wireless communication devices. A bell-bar mounted on the top of the upper rotor hub increases stability and improves flight performance. In this paper, we present a dynamic model of a coaxial rotor flying robot and design an embedded controller far the robot, and implement them to control the developed flying robot. Experimental results show that the proposed controller is valid for autonomous hovering and position control.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.311-318
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• 2020

This study investigates the performance and blade airloads for a rigid coaxial rotor of high-speed compound unmanned rotorcrafts. The present compound unmanned rotorcraft uses not only a rigid coaxial rotor, but also wings and propellers for high-speed flights. For the rigid coaxial rotor in this work, CAMRAD II, a rotorcraft comprehensive analysis code, is used to study the performance at a flight speed of up to 250 knots and blade section lift forces at 230 knots. As the flight speed increases, the rotor power decreases; however, the power of propellers increases to overcome the drag force of a rotorcraft in high-speed flight. The effective lift-to-drag ratio of a rotor has the maximum value of about 11.6 which is much higher than the value of the conventional helicopter. The blade section lift forces of the upper and lower rotors at 230 knots show the similar variation trends for one rotor revolution, and the impulses because of the aerodynamic interaction between both rotors are observed.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aviation and Aeronautics
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.60-67
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• 2014

Technical history of VTOL aircraft is examined from the early helicopter appearance to recent experimental rotorcraft in order to distinguish the core issues of those aircraft. Performance and technological challenges of some VTOL aircraft such as tilt rotor, convertiplane, gyroplane, and coaxial helicopter are discussed. As a new generation high performance rotorcraft, Sikorsky X2 is intensively investigated. Considering the developmental history of X2, the autorotational ability at high speed is recognized as a core technology. Analytic method of autorotation and some results are shown and presents research subjects related to the future Korean high performance rotorcraft.

• International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.154-164
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• 2017

This work conducts a validation study for the XH-59A helicopter using a rigid coaxial rotor system in order to establish the techniques of the conceptual design and performance analysis for the lift-offset compound rotorcraft. As a tool for conceptual design and performance analysis, NDARC (NASA Design and Analysis of Rotorcraft) is used for the present study. An assumed mission profile is considered for the conceptual design of the XH-59A. As a validation result of the design, the dimensions and weight of the XH-59A are appropriately designed when compared to the target values since the relative error is less than 0.5%. Then, performance analyses are conducted for the designed XH-59A model with and without auxiliary propulsion in hover and forward flight conditions. The present analyses show good validity since the prediction results compare well with both the flight test and previous analyses. Therefore, the techniques for the conceptual design and performance analysis of the lift-offset compound helicopter are overall considered to be appropriately established. In addition, this study investigates the influence of the lift-offset on the rotor effective lift-to-drag ratio of the XH-59A helicopter with auxiliary propulsion. As a result, the improvement of the rotor effective lift-to-drag ratio can be obtained by appropriately increasing the lift-offset in high-speed flight.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.37 no.10
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• pp.975-983
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• 2009

This paper presents the work being carried out in order to deduce hover performance of a small-scale single rotor blade as a preliminary study of a small coaxial rotor helicopter development. As an initial research, a test stand capable of measuring thrust and torque of a small-scale rotor blade in hover state was constructed and fabricated. The test stand consists of three parts; a rotating device, a load measuring sensor and a data acquisition system. Thrust and torque were measured with varying collective pitch angle at fixed RPM. Through this research, hover performance tests were conducted for a small-scale single rotor blade operating in low Reynolds number ($Re\;{\approx}3{\times}10^5$), as well as for verifying the test stand itself for acquiring hover performance.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.48 no.12
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• pp.997-1004
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• 2020

A synchropter is a type of rotorcraft in which a pair of blades inclined with each other rotates in synchronization. Removing the tail rotor enables an efficient and compact configuration similar to a coaxial-rotor helicopter. This paper describes the design and flight test results of a small synchropter to examine the suitability of a drone system for the army. The synchropter in this paper is a small vehicle with a rotor diameter of 1.4m and a weight of 7kg and was assembled based on commercial parts to examine flight characteristics effectively. The flight control system adopted Pixhawk, which is designed based on an open-architecture. The model-based design technique is applied to develop the control law of the synchropter and a new firmware embedded on the Pixhawk. Through qualitative flight tests, we analyzed the flight characteristics. As a result of the analysis, we confirmed the possibility of application as a drone system of the synchropter.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Military Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.357-367
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• 2021

This paper studies the simulations of active airframe vibration controls for the Sikorsky X2 helicopter with a lift-offset coaxial rotor. The 4P hub vibratory loads of the X2TD rotor are obtained from the previous work using a rotorcraft comprehensive analysis code, CAMRAD II. The finite element analysis software, MSC.NASTRAN, is used to model the structural dynamics of the X2TD airframe and to analyze the 4P vibration responses of the airframe. A simulation study using Active Vibration Control System(AVCS) with Fx-LMS algorithm to reduce the airframe vibrations is conducted. The present AVCS is modeled using MATLAB Simulink. When AVCS is applied to the X2TD airframe at 250 knots, the 4P longitudinal and vertical vibration responses at the specified airframe positions, such as the pilot seat, co-pilot seat, engine deck, and prop gearbox, are reduced by 30.65 ~ 94.12 %.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Aeronautical & Space Sciences
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.75-84
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• 2021

The authors had presented two previous papers[1,2] on Helicopter/Rotorcraft develoment in Europe and US. Meanwhile, the next generation rotorcrafts, currently under development in US and Europe, have new configurations (tilt-rotor, coaxial, compound) of rotor-type vertical takeoff/landing rotorcrafts to overcome the disadvantages of traditional helicopters. For developing these new types of rotorcrafts, the upgraded conceptual design/comprehensive programs are required. In US and Europe, they are already developing new program tools with their technologies and database obtained during more than last half centuries. For us, many academia, research institutes and industrial engineers have experienced and developed core technologies on rotorcrafts (aerodynamics, structural analysis, flight dynamics, and noise analysis etc.) comparable to US and Europe during last couple of decades of developing helicopters and various configurations of rotorcrafts. In this paper, the pros and cons of conceptual design/comprehensive tools currently used in US and Europe have been summarized. Furthermore, the possibilities and problems to develope our own design and analysis tools have been studied.