Design of the Autogyro Whirlywing

Design parameters:

  • Rotor diameter 1000 mm
  • 3-blade rotor directly controlled
  • Weight around 1 kg
  • Rotor disc loading around 12 g/dm2
  • Scale like design
  • Electrically powered motor
  • Controls: Pitch, roll, rudder, throttle

 

 

Design steps

Rotor:

The 3 blade rotor is mounted with ball bearings. The rotor blades are rigged with delta 3 hinges.

 

Rotor design of the Whirlywing

 

 

Rotor head:

The rotor head is controlled by metal gear servos. Pitch and roll axis are controlled by skewing the whole rotor in the respective direction.

 

Design of the Whirlywing's rotor head

 

 

Fuselage:

The fuselage is designed around the cowling of the Parkzone Corsair F4U. It is built by formers and strings which are completely planked.

 

Basic design of the Whirlywing's fuselageBasic design of the Wirlywing's fuselage

 

Whirlywing fuselage planked

 

 

The servo mounting is defined:

Mounting of the servos in the Whirlywing

 

 

The stabilizers are made in covered lattice construction. The rudder is linked by steel wires.

 

Stabilizers of the Whirlywing

 

 

And now the landing gear: The main gear is made of two music wires which are fixed to the fuselage with clamps. Between the rods a fairing could be mounted.

 

Main gear of the Whirlywing

 

 

The tail gear is bent  from a music wire and is linked to the rudder:

 

Tail gear of the Whirlywing

 

 

This is how the complete design looks like:

 

Current status of the Whirlywing's design

 

 

Whirlywing side view

 

Whirlywing front viewWhirlywing rear view

 

The estimated weight is in a range now in which the rotor disc loading should be around 15 g/dm2.

The 2D drawings are made. Now material acquisition and construction will follow.

 

 

For reducing the take-off distance and simplifying hand launch a rotor pre-rotation gear shall be built. A small brushless motor is driving the rotor via a gear drive. The gear wheel on the rotor shaft has a one-way clutch to allow the rotor to run freely when the motor is switched off (we don't build a helicopter).

The new rotor head will look like this:

 

Rotor head with pre-rotator

 

Continuation here.