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Old 15th December 2006 | 22:19
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Graviman
 
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,334
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From: Cambridgeshire, UK
Bug,

Interesting thought is that once you accept fly-by-wire there is no real reason to use a swash plate. There would need to be a very reliable transducer for azimuth, and ideally a very simple non-programmable computer (so that it can't crash). If power is supplied to rotor via brushless AC transformer (not slip rings), then you could have a number of electric actuators continuously adjusting pitch.

A safer solution is to use swash plate and motor trimmers for more efficient flight. This improves rotor aerodynamics, but allows a safe back-up in the event of electrical failure. Hydraulics are starting to give way to electric servos in all industries. Then again you could probably get 95% there with seperate tip and root swashplates (or spider) - it would just take some careful packaging.

Mart
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