Meetings are every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30 PM at the Wilson Center (behind the FXB). Feel free to drop in; wait at the Wilson Center door if you don't have access and somebody should open the door. Contact Steve Nogar or Scott Tripp about being added to the email list, to hear about meeting rescheduling and other HPH news.
Winter 2008 goals include developing a test stand and investigating completely new helicopter designs through model building.
old design
Our old design is shown below.
To power the vehicle, the pilot sat upright on a bicycle-like frame and pedals. The pedals powered the drivetrain, which spun the rotors. The two rotors rotated in opposite directions, eliminating the net momentum.
This design is no longer being developed due to mechanical problems with the drivetrain and it has insufficient swept wing area to fly.
the contest
The American Helicopter Society offers a $20,000 prize for a successful controlled flight of a human-powered helicopter. The gist of the requirements is:
- Flight must be maintained for one minute.
- The lowest part of the helicopter must momentarily exceed 3 meters altitude.
- The pilot must not rotate throughout the flight.
The significance of the first two items is clear, but the last one introduces the challenging aspect of torque compensation. Eliminating the net torque of the vehicle, without reducing thrust, has been a major design point of every HPH.
In the roughly 20 years since the prize was first offered, no team has come close to meeting the height or time duration requirements.