Development of a Four-Rotor Cyclocopter

A cyclocopter propelled by a cycloidal blade system is a new concept of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. The cycloidal blade system, which can he described as a horizontal rotary wing, offers powerful thrust levels and a unique ability to change the direction of the thrust almost instantly. This paper investigates the development of the cyclocopter with four rotors, file aircraft was designed through computational fluid dynamics and finite element structural analyses. Elliptic blades and a swash plate were applied to the rotor system to improve the rotor performance and control mechanism. Efficient dc brushless motors and lithium-polymer batteries were used for power transmissions. Almost all parts of the rotor blades and fuselage were manufactured out of composite material. Thrust and required power were measured experimentally on the test bed. The experimental result shows that the cyclocopter on produce sufficient thrust for both hovering and low-speed forward flight.