staff@slashgear.com (Shane Schmid)
2024-04-20 11:15:14
www.slashgear.com
When looking at a machine like the K-MAX K-1200, you might do a double take as it has two large spinning rotors right next to each other. The design looks strange and dangerous even, as the revolution per minute (RPM) of an average large helicopter is around 230, according to Radiant Helicopter Tour.
Fortunately, the blades are connected through central gears that keep them synched, so the overlapping blades don’t make contact during each revolution. The easiest example of this type of synchronous design is found in your kitchen in the form of a hand mixer. When two beater attachments are secured into the mixer, look closely; you’ll notice the beaters intermesh but never collide. Although spinning close and appearing to be independent, both beaters are connected.
In addition to being synchronized, the rotors don’t collide because of the particular way they’re oriented, which is slightly outward. According to the International Research Journal of Modernization in Engineering Technology and Science, “To ensure that the rotors do not collide, the swash plates and complex linkage gearboxes play the major role by controlling the blade pitch for each rotor and by providing them different pitch angles depending upon the forward speed, yaw, and roll control.”