The proposal is concerned with the development of a new concept for the control of the aerodynamics of helicopter rotor blades. Such a control device will make it possible to mechanize the helicopter rotor air foil much in the same way that the wings of fixed wing aircraft are mechanized to achieve high lift, stall-free performance at low speeds. Existing methods for active control of helicopter rotorblade aerodynamics usually employ actuators in the non-rotating frame. The control actions are transmitted through the swash plate. This greatly limits the ability of such control systems to optimize the desired inputs into each blade. This proposed research will explore a number of concepts for directly controlling the deflections of flaps attached to helicopter rotor blades. The investigation will focus on the development and testing of piezoelectric ceramic actuators, which are capable of deflecting these flaps, in response to applied electric signals.
