JP3522372B2 - Safety helicopter - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a helicopter that can safely land during emergency landing (including landing) such as emergency landing. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a countermeasure in the event of an emergency such as emergency landing of a helicopter, a helicopter is relatively slow,
In addition, since the main purpose of such activities as low-altitude flight, vertical ascent / descent, and hovering near the ground is ground activity, there is no particular means. [0003] In other words, it can be said that compared to fixed wing aircraft, there is less recognition of emergency landing than a fixed wing aircraft because of the structure that can land anywhere with a slight flat portion, and measures for it are taken with care. [0004] The conventional helicopter has the following problems to be solved. That is, in a conventional helicopter, for example, a rotor or a til comes into contact with a power transmission line in low altitude flight or the like, touches a ground building or a cliff, or comes into contact with another machine while photographing an incident site on the ground. When both flight and hovering become impossible, there is no fixed wing (main wing etc.), so it crashes immediately or becomes inoperable and loses balance, eventually crashing to the ground (or water surface). There was a problem that can not escape. In particular, recent incidents such as newspapers and other news gatherers, as well as accidents frequently occurring at companies' offices, etc., are noticeable. An object of the present invention is to provide a helicopter capable of safely landing (water landing) which solves the above problems. According to the present invention, as a means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the thrust axis is variable in a range of substantially horizontal and substantially vertical directions, and is substantially vertical when emergency landing or the like is required. Nisa
And an auxiliary engine for controlling the descent speed of the aircraft, and a gas bag which is inflated rapidly at the time of emergency landing or the like to reduce the landing impact of the aircraft so as to be reduced and arranged at an appropriate position below the aircraft. The auxiliary engine is the same as the nacelle cover.
Can project from the nacelle cover toward the tail end of the auxiliary engine
With an engine guard housed in
The engine guard projects from the nacelle cover when necessary
To be grounded to prevent damage to the auxiliary engine
Safety helicopter, which is characterized in Rukoto that have a is intended to provide. [0008] Here, "over the range of substantially horizontal direction and substantially vertical direction" means not only in the plane including the machine axis (vertical axis) but also in all directions including the horizontal axis (horizontal axis). When the thrust direction (forward direction) of the auxiliary engine is upward, which means the vertical direction, it means that the thrust axis draws a cone around the fulcrum, and that any direction within the cone can be selected. I do. The term "reduction" of the gas bag includes not only a state in which the gas bag is reduced in a similar manner but also a state in which the gas bag is folded while the surface area is inflated. The gas used for the "gas bag" may be air, nitrogen gas, combustion gas, explosive explosive gas or any other suitable gas. The term "thrust" includes not only jet injection and the like but also thrust by a propeller. The present invention has the following effects because it is configured as described above. That is, since the helicopter is provided with an auxiliary engine whose thrust axis can be changed in a range substantially in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction, when an emergency situation has to be carried out due to damage to the rotor or to the till, etc. The thrust axis of the auxiliary engine is directed upward (the direction in which the fuselage moves upward), and in some cases, the thrust axis is set in a vertical direction in order to reduce the plane moving speed, such as the forward speed, or to move the fuselage to a desired location. Tilt the aircraft in the required direction, reduce the descent or settling speed of the aircraft,
Further, for example, when the till is broken (and thus the till rotor) and the body rotates in the plane, the thrust shaft is tilted in a direction to offset the rotational moment by an auxiliary engine provided beforehand outside the center of gravity, The aircraft can land at a desired location at a gentle speed. Therefore, safety of human life is ensured. In addition, since the helicopter is provided with a gas bag which is rapidly inflated at the time of emergency landing or the like to reduce the impact of the landing of the fuselage so as to be able to alleviate the landing impact of the fuselage, it is provided with a gas bag which is reduced in place at the bottom of the fuselage. When the gas bag is inflated rapidly in combination with the auxiliary engine and protruded downward, it acts as a cushion to mitigate the impact of landing, further protecting the safety of human life and protecting the aircraft from damage. Can be. Furthermore, when necessary, such as during an emergency landing,
The gin guard protrudes from the tail end of the auxiliary engine facing upward
Ground the engine and do not ground the auxiliary engine.
We can protect from damage. Since high-speed landing causes damage to a person or an airframe that is not so different from landing, the same effect can be obtained when landing. Hereinafter, the term “landing” includes the case of landing, depending on the situation, and does not particularly refer to landing. The above "auxiliary engine" is used during normal flight,
The thrust axis is oriented in the flight direction, mainly because of the reduction in air resistance. Whether or not the "auxiliary engine" is used as a normal flight engine is freely determined. An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the safety helicopter according to the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a schematic enlarged side view showing the auxiliary engine 5 of FIG. 1 as a typical front view, and FIG. A state in which the engine guard 5b is housed when it is substantially horizontal (the nacelle cover 5a is shown by a two-dot chain line), (b) is where the auxiliary engine 5 is directed upward (vertically) and The state where the engine guard 5b protrudes and lands is shown. FIG. 1 shows an emergency landing state, that is, a state in which the auxiliary engine 5 is upward and the airbag 6 is inflated (projected), and a double-headed arrow indicates a range in which the auxiliary engine 5 is substantially horizontal and substantially vertical. It indicates that it can be turned in the direction. In the figure, the horizontal state (forward) of the auxiliary engine 5 is indicated by a two-dot chain line. In FIG. 1, 1 is a fuselage fuselage, 2 is a rotor, 3 is a till, and 5 is a normal flight. In the event of an emergency that must be performed, an auxiliary engine that rotates upward to generate upward thrust, and is normally folded to be inside the front and rear lower parts of the fuselage 1 The air inlet side is connected to the fuselage and communicates with an air (high pressure) cylinder (not shown). In an emergency, the air cylinder is opened by a pilot command (operation), and the high pressure air opens downward as shown in the figure. An airbag that inflates in the shape of a flat ball to relieve the landing shock of the fuselage. The front support base 7b is located at the rear of the fuselage 1, that is, on the left and right sides of the center of gravity of the fuselage, that is, the position where the upward momentum that causes the upward thrust of the auxiliary engine 5 supported by the front support base 7a cancels out. It is a rear support base that protrudes and supports the rear auxiliary engine 5 so as to be rotatable and fixable about a horizontal axis (horizontal axis) and also serves as a stabilizer. Note that, in principle, all of the above parts are mounted symmetrically with respect to the fuselage. However, when the auxiliary engine 5 is leveled to contribute to forward thrust during normal flight, the rotor 2
In order to cancel the plane spin (rotation reaction force) caused by the rotation, the front support 7a and the rear support 7 on the oblique side with respect to the center of the rotor 2
It is free to form b somewhat longer. In this case, the moment of vertical ascent is almost canceled out, so that it does not become a great obstacle in an emergency. Next, in FIG. 2, reference numeral 5a denotes the auxiliary engine 5
A space is formed between the nacelle cover and the main body of the auxiliary engine 5 so that the engine guard 5b can enter and exit. Reference numeral 5b denotes a shock-absorbing engine guard for preventing the upwardly directed auxiliary engine 5 from being damaged by ground contact during emergency landing. A plurality of rods are provided along the thrust axis of the auxiliary engine 5 with respect to the main body of the auxiliary engine 5, Enclosed so that it can enter and exit in the axial direction, and the rear end (the side that becomes the lower end when grounding)
Is fixed to the annular body, and is normally housed between the nacelle cover 5a and the main body of the auxiliary engine 5, and automatically or in contact with the auxiliary engine 5 in upward rotation. Immediately before, by detecting the proximity effect of the auxiliary engine 5 to the ground, that is, the increase of the back pressure with respect to the injection pressure, by the pilot operation, the auxiliary engine 5 is automatically moved from the tail end of the auxiliary engine 5 as schematically shown in FIG. It protrudes longer and comes into contact with the ground, and elastically expands and contracts to absorb shocks, and protects the auxiliary engine 5 from damage by not touching the ground. [0022] and out scheme of the engine guard 5b, for example charged with scan pulling the elongate tubular body, and further use of air pressure in combination a long compression spring the rod was inserted or elongated cylinder and the piston member therein Alternatively, a pinion rack system may be used in which the rod body side is a rack and a pinion that is rotated by a hydraulic motor or the like that can reversely rotate with a required force is attached to the auxiliary engine 5 side.
No. Next, the operation of the above configuration will be described. When the helicopter is in normal flight, vertical ascent, hovering, etc., that is, in other than an emergency, the auxiliary engine 5 is rotated horizontally as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. However, it is free to take part in horizontal forward flight, vertical climb and hover.) In the air, the rotor 2 stops, breaks, till 3
In the event of an emergency due to damage to the vehicle, etc., the pilot performs emergency operations for emergency landing,
Turn up and operate. Then, the loss of the levitation force due to the stop of the rotor 2 is compensated for.
The inclination and the thrust with respect to the vertical axis are controlled to control the sinking speed and attitude, and the horizontal movement component is appropriately adjusted to guide the aircraft to a desired place. When the till 3 is broken (therefore, the till rotor) is broken, the auxiliary engine 5 before and after facing the rotation axis of the rotor 2 is paired and slightly inclined with respect to the vertical line so as to cancel the spin of the rotor 2. Manipulate. On the other hand, the airbag 6 is operated in conjunction with the upward operation of the auxiliary engine 5 or independently.
An air cylinder (not shown) is opened, and the airbag 6 projects downward while inflating, and becomes a large flat ball as shown in FIG. That is, the sinking speed of the aircraft is reduced by the upward thrust of the auxiliary engine 5,
Due to the shock mitigation by the airbag 6, the airframe lands very softly, and not only human lives but also the airframe is protected from new damage. Note that the airbag 6 is formed sufficiently flat and is provided at the center of the mounting position of the front support base 7a and the rear support base 7b as shown in the figure, so that the lateral moment of the body is reduced by the front support base 7a and the rear support base. Since it is supported by the base 7b, the aircraft does not tilt significantly after landing. Be appreciated that the auxiliary engine 5 so that the hot injected gas such auxiliary engine 5 does not damage the air bag 6 while the Ru provided sufficiently outward from the expansion diameter of the airbag 6. The storage portion of the airbag 6 is provided with a lid which is easily flushed downward by the inflation of the airbag 6 and is flush with the body outer panel. However, the helicopter is not as fast as a fixed wing aircraft, so if there is no problem in terms of maintenance or protection of the airbag 6 (particularly protection from perforation by a tool or the like), coating is particularly necessary for air resistance. Not even. As described above, in the embodiment, the example has been described in which the auxiliary engine 5 rotates forward and upward in a vertical plane parallel to the machine axis. However, the rotation range of the auxiliary engine 5 is not limited to this. For example, front support base 7a, rear support base 7b
If the connecting part with the auxiliary engine 5 is configured to be oriented in an arbitrary direction within a permissible range and can be fixed in that direction by a ball joint or universal joint type, the direction of the thrust of the auxiliary engine is required. By directing in the direction, the aircraft can be guided and landed at a desired location in all directions. As described above, according to the present embodiment, the soft landing can be performed by using the auxiliary engine 5 at the time of emergency landing, so that there is an advantage that human life can be sufficiently protected. Further, there is an advantage that only the human life or the body can be landed by the airbag 6 without damage. Further, by using the engine guard 5b, not only human life and the body but also the auxiliary engine 5 are protected, and eventually, all of the person, the body, the auxiliary engine 5 (the main engine is inside the body, and so on). There is an advantage that can be safely protected. When the airbag 6 is disposed at an appropriate position below the body 1 as shown in FIG. 1, in the case of landing on water, the airbag 6 not only reduces the impact of landing, but also serves as a floating body. Also has the advantage that the aircraft can be stably levitated. The present invention has the following effects because it is configured as described above. That is, since the auxiliary engine having a variable thrust axis in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction is provided, the emergency engine can be turned upward at the time of emergency landing, and the aircraft can be gently landed. Secured. At the time of emergency landing, the auxiliary engine is directed upward to reduce the sinking speed of the body, and at the same time, the auxiliary engine is tilted appropriately to give a horizontal speed component, so that the body can be guided and landed at a desired safe place. Since the gas bag which can be rapidly inflated is disposed at an appropriate position in the lower part of the fuselage, the landing shock can be further mitigated by inflating it at the time of emergency landing, so that not only human lives but also the aircraft can be safely protected. You can land. At the time of emergency landing etc.
The protruding part of the auxiliary engine
Because it has an engine guard, not only human life and aircraft
Auxiliary engines can also be protected from damage. In the case of landing on water, since the gas bag becomes a floating body to levitate the airframe, both the human and the airframe are safe without sinking.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a safety helicopter according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic enlarged side view typically showing the auxiliary engine 5 of FIG. 1 as a front example. (A) is a diagram showing a case where the auxiliary engine 5 is substantially horizontal, and (b) is a diagram showing a case where the auxiliary engine 5 is facing upward, and the engine guard 5b is protruding and landing. [Description of Signs] 1 Body 2 Rotor 3 Til 5 Auxiliary engine 5a Nacelle cover 5b Engine guard 6 Airbag 7a Front support 7b Rear support

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims 1] The thrust axis is variable over a range of substantially horizontal direction and substantially vertical direction, and is substantially vertical at the time of emergency landing or the like.
And an auxiliary engine for controlling the descent speed and a gas bag which is rapidly inflated at the time of emergency landing or the like to reduce the impact of the landing of the aircraft, and which is reduced and arranged at an appropriate position below the aircraft. The auxiliary engine includes a nacelle cover
Can project from the nacelle cover toward the tail end of the auxiliary engine
It has an engine guard housed in the
When necessary, the engine guard protrudes from the nacelle cover.
The auxiliary engine is brought out of contact with the ground to prevent damage to the auxiliary engine.
Safety helicopter characterized by Rukoto to have a growth.