Composites for Advanced Drive Systems

With the desire for increased power/weight for advanced drive system configurations, the investigation of materials, like composites is being explored to determine the feasibility of integration into advanced drive systems. This area of research directly aligns with the vision of the NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology (RVLT) Project, which is to enable a generation of vertical lift vehicles that can achieve aggressive goals in the areas of high speed, high efficiency, high performance, low noise, and low emissions.Composite materials are lightweight, especially when comparing to the metallic materials commonly utilized in rotorcraft drive systems. By integrating composite materials into the drive system, the potential for improvements to power/weight exists as well as other potential benefits such as reductions in vibration and/or noise. Each of these areas of potential benefit will largely influence the overall performance and reliability of future vertical lift vehicles. Prior NASA research has been performed that developed a prototype hybrid double helical bull gear which was successfully demonstrated (LaBerge, Kelsen E.; Handschuh, Robert F.; Roberts, Gary; Thorp, Scott;, 2016) and current NASA research is being performed to optimize the hybrid gear design.While the potential benefits of composite materials in vertical lift drive systems mentioned above are highly desirable, many challenges exist that need to be addressed. To address the benefits and challenges with the integration of composite materials in advanced vertical lift drive systems, the identification of advanced drive system configurations and technical challenges is required. For this project, Bell Helicopter Textron identified an advanced drive system configuration and provided conceptual designs for this advanced drive system configuration, identified technical challenges, and provided recommendations as to how those challenges can be overcome.