Method of manufacturing a control cuff for a rotor blade of a hinge and bearingless rotor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10532811-B2
Application number	US-201615377416-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 13, 2016
Priority date	Mar 30, 2016
Publication date	Jan 14, 2020
Grant date	Jan 14, 2020

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a control cuff for a rotor blade of a hinge and bearingless rotor. The method comprises at least the steps of: manufacturing an outer shell, manufacturing a stiffener member by means of an automated process, inserting the stiffener member into the outer shell, and bonding the stiffener member to the outer shell.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of manufacturing a control cuff for a rotor blade of a hinge- and bearingless rotor, the control cuff being adapted for accommodation of a flexbeam element of the rotor and comprising a control rod attachment for connection to an activatable control rod that is activatable for rotating the control cuff in operation around its associated longitudinal axis for setting a current pitch or a blade angle of the rotor blade, the method comprising at least the steps of:
manufacturing an outer shell of the control cuff,
manufacturing a stiffener member by means of an automated process,
inserting the stiffener member into the outer shell, and
bonding the stiffener member to the outer shell, in a region of the control rod attachment.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of manufacturing the stiffener member by means of an automated process comprises manufacturing the stiffener member as a composite component using automated fiber winding technology.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of manufacturing the stiffener member by means of an automated process comprises manufacturing the stiffener member as a metal component using automated 3D printing.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of manufacturing the stiffener member by means of an automated process comprises manufacturing the stiffener member as a metal component using automated 3D milling.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of manufacturing the outer shell comprises manufacturing the outer shell by means of at least one of a wet-layup, prepreg, infusion and injection process.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the step of manufacturing the outer shell comprises creating at least one lead-lag damper attachment layer on the outer shell.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein creating the at least one lead-lag damper attachment layer on the outer shell comprises milling the at least one lead-lag damper attachment layer into a shape that is adapted for attachment of an associated lead-lag damper.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying an adhesive on an outer surface of the stiffener member prior to inserting the stiffener member into the outer shell, wherein the stiffener member is bonded to the outer shell by means of the adhesive.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the step of applying an adhesive on an outer surface of the stiffener member prior to inserting the stiffener member into the outer shell comprises applying an adhesive line on the outer surface of the stiffener member.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of manufacturing the outer shell comprises providing the outer shell with an adhesive feed line, and wherein the step of manufacturing the stiffener member comprises creating an injection channel on an outer surface of the stiffener member.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of inserting the stiffener member into the outer shell comprises creating a bonding gap between an inner surface of the outer shell and the outer surface of the stiffener member by means of the injection channel.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the step of bonding the stiffener member to the outer shell comprises injecting adhesive via the feed line into the bonding gap.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of manufacturing the stiffener member comprises manufacturing the stiffener member in the form of a stiffener belt.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising shaping an outer surface of the outer shell according to predetermined shaping parameters by means of an automated milling process.

15. A rotor blade of a hinge- and bearingless rotor with a control cuff that is manufactured according to claim 1 .

16. A method of manufacturing a control cuff for a rotor blade of a hinge- and bearingless rotor, the method comprising at least the steps of:
manufacturing an outer shell,
manufacturing a stiffener member by means of an automated process,
inserting the stiffener member into the outer shell, and
bonding the stiffener member to the outer shell,
wherein the step of manufacturing the outer shell comprises providing the outer shell with an adhesive feed line, and wherein the step of manufacturing the stiffener member comprises creating an injection channel on an outer surface of the stiffener member.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the step of inserting the stiffener member into the outer shell comprises creating a bonding gap between an inner surface of the outer shell and the outer surface of the stiffener member by means of the injection channel.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the step of bonding the stiffener member to the outer shell comprises injecting adhesive via the feed line into the bonding gap.

19. A method of manufacturing a control cuff for a rotor blade of a hinge- and bearingless rotor, the method comprising:
manufacturing an outer shell of a control cuff, the outer shell of the control cuff extending from an inner end region of the control cuff to an outer end region of the control cuff, the inner end region adapted to be arranged adjacent to a rotor hub, the outer end region adapted to be attached to a root end of the rotor blade,
manufacturing a stiffener member of the control cuff via an automated process,
inserting the stiffener member into the outer shell and positioning the stiffener member within the inner end region, and
bonding an outer surface of the stiffener member to an inner surface of the outer shell such that the outer shell and stiffening member are adapted to accommodate and surround a flexbeam element, and
providing a control rod attachment on the control cuff within the inner end region, the control rod attachment for connection to an activatable control rod that is activatable for rotating the control cuff in operation around its associated longitudinal axis for setting a current pitch or a blade angle of the rotor blade.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the stiffener member is positioned to be spaced apart from the outer end region of the control cuff, and
wherein the stiffener member is manufactured in the form of a stiffener belt.

Assignees

• Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbH

Inventors

• Radekopf Joerg
• Meierling Philipp
• Denecke Ulrich

Classifications

• B29D99/0025

  Producing blades or the like, e.g. blades for turbines, propellers, or wings · CPC title

• B64C27/635 Primary

  specially for controlling lag-lead movements of blades · CPC title

• B32B37/16

  with all layers existing as coherent layers before laminating · CPC title

• B23C3/00

  Milling particular work; Special milling operations; Machines therefor (milling gear-teeth B23F, {heat assisted machining B23P25/00}) · CPC title

• B22F5/00

  Manufacture of workpieces or articles from metallic powder characterised by the special shape of the product · CPC title