PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Semi-rigid vs semi-articulated
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Old 21st Sep 2002, 14:41
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Nick Lappos
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Those labels are confusing and only semi-useful!

If the rotors are mounted to a plate that is hinged at the mast, so the whole disk teeters around that hinge, and no bending forces are imposed on the mast during those teeterings, it is a teetering rotor, sometimes called a semi-rigid rotor. This is a classic first-generation rotor head, invented by Art Young in the mid 1940's It is easy to make, easy to maintain, and relatively light. It is also a very marginal design for the high-end work helicopters have to do, mostly because it has a relatively small maneuver envelope, and does not provide consistent control in low g or sideslipping flight. For very light training helicopters and home builts, it is a very nice rotorhead, as long as its limitations are respected. (As an aside, the rotors on the V-22 Osprey are basically teetering rotors, with the 3-bladed rotor head gimbal-ring being atached to the mast by bearings).

A semi-articulated rotor is again a bit of a stretch, but the Robinson design could be said to be one, where the blades flap from a hinge that is a bit away from the mast, but the whole rotor head also tilts. this allows each blade to relieve its forces at the head, but also lets the whole head tilt. It has most of the limitations of the teetering rotor above, but the head can be lighter because the flapping of each blade prevents the bending from being carried by the rotor head, thus it can be lighter. Also, the blades move more freely, so the controls should feel quicker and more responsive than a true teetering rotor.