Cyclic system could be hidden inside the center section so that it would not cause drag like on a helicopter where there are lots of mechanical parts directly in the airflow causing drag. In cruise the plane would be a gyrocopter rather than a helicopter because it would have positive angle of attack unlike helicopter which cruises at negative angle of attack (and only blades have positive angle of attack).
I would like to try this as RC-model, but the challenge would be to fabricate such a large and yet lightweight bearing that would be size of the craft itself. The outer shell with the bearing would have a gear tooth that would be driven with a pinion gear that would be connected to the engine. This would also function as gear reduction drive. In addition to the ring drive to takeoff and landing, there would need to be a generator for driving the pylon mounted thrust vectoring prop that would be run with an electric motor.
The shape of the lifting body would be a suboptimal airfoil because it would need to be symmetrical and have both sharp leading edge and trailing edge but. This kind of craft would be naturally unstable but it could be artificially stabilized with software.
2 comments:
Darpa was working on something like that with retracting blades. http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-10/video-darpa-and-boeings-retractable-blade-heliplane
The idea of the lifting body is interesting. Perhaps the disc could be the aircraft during flight. Not having to have the blades to fly might reduce stress on bearing and make it easier to build.
Totally different structure. Why aren't we seeing lifting bodies in the homebuilt airplane market? It seems like they would be easier to construct.
http://www.evolutiondesigns.eu/index.php?lang=en - interesting software for airfoil/wing/flap system design
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