Enabling Technologies to Support Individual Blade Control for Rotorcraft

The Navy has a keen interest in advancing the capabilities of rotorcraft through the improvement of rotor blade control technologies. There is a sizeable body of research establishing the benefits of Individual Blade Control (IBC) on rotorcraft including increased performance, improved handling qualities, extended component life, improved ride quality, reduced noise, and more. It was shown through a series of wind tunnel tests that IBC reduced the power required in forward flight conditions up to 7%. The research also observed up to a 12 dB (85%) reduction in noise generated by blade-vortex interaction (a major source of rotorcraft noise). IBC trades the weight and complexity of the swashplate mechanics for individual blade actuators integrated into the rotor. One significant challenge for IBC is getting a sufficiently high bandwidth actuator integrated into the rotating frame of the rotor hub as well as getting power and control signals across the rotating boundary.Toyon proposes to use our ultra-torque-dense (UTD) electric motor technology as a direct drive electromechanical servo motor to precisely control the blade pitch. By eliminating gearboxes and hydraulics we provide a low-maintenance, high-bandwidth and highly reliable zero-backlash servo actuation system for IBC.