Advanced Technology Institute of Commuter-Helicopter, Ltd.

Shigeru Tobari

Yoshiharu Kubo

Takeshi Tomio

Hideki Shirasaya

Ikuo Sudo

A flight control apparatus for a helicopter is configured by: a control unit controlled by the pilot; a steering mechanism for generating an aerodynamic control force; a link mechanism for mechanically transmitting an amount of control Ma in the control unit to the steering mechanism, thereby driving the steering mechanism; an amount-of-control sensor for detecting the amount of control Ma in the control unit and for supplying a control signal Sa; a flight control law calculation unit for calculating a flight control law of the helicopter based on the control signal Sa, and for supplying a driving signal Sb for the steering mechanism; a difference calculation unit for subtracting the control signal Sa from the driving signal Sb, and for supplying a difference signal Sc; and a precision servo actuator unit for adding the amount of control Ma transmitted via the link mechanism, to an amount of difference Mc corresponding to the difference signal Sc. According to this configuration, the apparatus can be easily applied to a mechanical control transmission mechanism of an existing helicopter, and the characteristics and performance of the control transmission mechanism can be remarkably increased.

Growing community of inventors

Kakamigahara, Japan

Shigeru Tobari