Dec. 4, 1962 W.

CASTLES, JR 3,066,742
ROTOR BLADE
Filed Jan. 11, 1957

33 31

INVENTOR.
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 United States Patent Office
3,066,742
ROTOR BLADE
Walter Castles, Jr., Atlanta, Ga., assignor to Georgia
Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, Ga., a corporation of
Georgia
Fied Jara. 11, 1957, Ser. No. 633,655
Claim. (C. 170-159)
This invention relates to rotor blades and is particularly
concerned with the shape of air impeller blades such as
may be appropriately used for high speed helicopters or
converta-planes.
It is well recognized that the top speed of helicopters
and in some instances that of converta-planes is limited
by the occurrence of blade tip stall of the rotating blade.
The tip-stall speed limitation arises from the necessity
to balance out to zero the net rolling moment acting upon
the rotor. As a consequence of this limitation, it is well
recognized that the top speed for helicopters and some
converta-planes is comparatively quite low with respect 20
to other forms of aircraft. This limitation is despite the
fact that a great deal of excess power is available from
the power plant.
It is therefore among the objects of the present inven
tion to provide a novel and improved rotor blade for
air impelling which will have an improved blade tip-stall
characteristic.
More particularly, it is among the objects of the present
invention to provide an improved impeller blade shape by
which the blade tip-stall characteristics of the impeller 30
blades of helicopters and/or converta-planes may be im
proved.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel
blade shape, the chord distribution of which is such as to
materially increase the tip-stall limit top speed of a heli
copter or converta-plane.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide
a blade of the type defined in which the chord distribu
tion is such as to provide an inverse taper for the out 40
board portion of the blade with respect to the inboard
blade chord.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present
invention will be apparent from consideration of the fol
lowing specification taken in conjunction with accom
panying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a top plan view of one form of blade carrying
out the present inventive concept.
FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the blade of FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a modification of the blade embodying the
inventive principle disclosed in FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a side elevation of the blade in FIG. 3.
FIG. 5 is a top plan view of further modification of
the blade embodying my inventive concept.
FIG. 6 is a side elevation of the blade of FIG. 5.
While the blade shape of the present invention may be
widely varied as indicated by the three forms disclosed in
the drawings, it may be generally stated that the principle
of the invention is concerned with the chord distribution
of the blade in such manner as to provide inverse out
ward taper of the blade. Generally speaking, the blade
of the present invention has a substantially constant in
board blade chord for over half of the blade length and
preferably in the order of 0.7 of such length and there
after the outboard portion of the blade is of greater width. 65
Preferably such extended width is by virtue of an inverse
taper of the outboard portion and preferably following
approximately the formula hereinafter set forth. It will have the proportions
be understood in connection with the following specifi
cation that the invention is not concerned with the internal O
structure of the rotor blade or with the material thereof.
The cross-sectional design may be presumed to follow the
3,066,742
Patented Dec. 4, 1962
2
normal airfoil section modified in accordance with the
chord.
For the purpose of definition herein, the "chord” is de
fined as the distance frcm the leading edge of the blade
airfoil to the trailing edge of the blade airfoil; the “thick
ness' as hereinafter used, means the maximum distance
from the upper or one surface of the blade airfoil to the
lower or other surface of the blade airfoil; the term
"inverse taper' is a linear increase in airfoil chord with in
crease in the distance or radius from the hub at which that
chord is measured, and the “angularity” is defined as the
slope of the leading or trailing edge of the blade with re
Spect to the radial axis of the blade.
Referring now more particularly to the drawings, that
form of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 discloses
the rotor blade conventionally mounted on the usual hub
i0 through a connector 1 having a lever 12 for con
trolling the feathering of the blade by which its angularity
is set. In this form of the invention the inboard portion
of the blade is of uniform cross-section or chord as indi
cated at 13. At the outboard portion of the blade, the
chord increases in a substantially uniform inverse taper
as shown at 14. In this form of the invention the chord
distribution is one in which the inboard chord c equals
co and is essentially constant from the blade root to a
radius which may be expressed as R, where x is of the
order of about 0.5 to about 0.9, the optimum being 0.7
and R is the radius of the blade tip. The inverse taper
of the outboard portion 14 may be approximately de
scribed, using the letter c for the chord, by the following
formula:
-
c=e1+(8–1) (i-aca)(ac-ace) for aesars 1
35 where
c=blade tip chord
C
C
is from about 1.5 to about 3
x=nondimensional radius
R
R
45
32=nondimensional radius at inboard end of inverse tip
taper.
In other words, x is the actual distance from the hub
to the chord c divided by the total distance from the hub
50 to the blade tip and x is the distance from the hub to
the beginning of the inverse taper divided by the total
distance from the hub to the blade tip.
With such a blade it has been calculated that the fast
Cessna CH-1 helicopter which presently has a tip-stall
limit top speed of 122 m.p.h. although at such speed only
approximately 70 percent of the power available is uti
lized, may by using the formula given in the NACA TN
2656, by Walter Castles, Jr. and Noah C. New, July, 1952,
published by National Advisory Committee for Aero
60 nautics, have the following improved factors:
10 percent increase in the tip-stall limited top-speed
where the rotor blades have the proportions x=0.70 and
and;
15 percent tip-stall speed increase where the blades
a = 0.70 and 8-3
Co
in comparing the above it is to be noted that these
 3,086,742
3 4.
ratios are for the same hovering mean blade lift coef
ficient; i.e. value of
2ct
bot3
where
Cas parSR
T same plane throughout,
the rotor thrust coefficient,
---
3-I, c. da
'1. 2.
the nondimensional second moment of the blade area
about the blade root, and b-number of blades on rotor,
consequently the present form does not entail any ap
preciable sacrifice in hovering performance. For a fur
ther consideration of the mathematical analysis of the
present subject matter, reference may be had to the pres
ent inventor's article as co-author with Howard L. Dur
ham in the October 1956 issue, vol. 1, No. 4 of the jour
nal of the American Helicopter Society.
While the blade of FIGS. 1 and 2 is of uniform chord
through the inboard portion 13 thereof, it will be seen
that the invention contemplates an inboard taper, if such
is desired, and thus in FIGS. 3 and 4 the inboard portion
23, comprising approximately 70 percent of the blade
length is of an outwardly increasing taper and thus
inversely tapered, as is the outboard terminal portion
24. But such taper is considerably more mild than
that of the outboard portion 24; however, since the
inverse taper of the inboard portion 23 is not critical no
formula need be applied for this portion.
It will further be noted from FGS. 5 and 6 that the
enlargement of the outboard end 34 need not follow a
uniform inverse taper. In this form of the blade the
inboard portion 33 is of uniform chord for approximately
80 percent of the length of the blade while the outboard
portion 34 is of a rounded or paddle like type of inverse
enlargement.
As hereinbefore noted, the invention is not concerned
with the material or internal structure of the blade;
however, it is to be noted that in each instance the lead
ing edge of the blade, here shown as the upper edge, is
closer to the axis of the blade than the opposed trailing
edge, and it is proposed that the axis of the blade be
disposed approximately one quarter of the total chord
of the base end of the blade from the leading edge.
In that form of the invention shown in FIGS. 3 and 4,
the chord of the outboard portion where it joins the
tapered inboard portion 23 may be determined as approxi
mately 1.5 times the chord at the base of the blade; in
other words, the taper of the inboard portion from
the base to the outboard portion is about one-half the
length of the chord at the inboard portion of the blade
while as suggested above the width of the extremity of 55
the outboard portion of the blade is three times the
width of the chord at the base.
While the transverse configuration of the blade may
not be of critical value, it will be noted from the drawings
in each instance the blade diminishes in thickness at the
extreme end of the outboard portion, the bevel producing
5 such diminishment being upwardly from the bottom with
the top surface of the blade being substantially in the
In considering the present invention it will, of course,
be understood that the formulae here presented are
O suggestive and that in the practice of the invention various
departures therefrom may be indicated in the light of
further experimentation and in view of specific circum
stances under which the impeller is to be used, thus it
will be understood that numerous changes, modifications
and the full use of equivalents may be resorted to in
the practice of my invention without departing from the
spirit or scope thereof as defined in the appended claim.
claim:
A flexible air impeller blade particularly adapted for
helicopters and the like, designed to increase the tip
stall factor whereby speeds may be increased, having
inboard and outboard portions and an airfoil section, the
outboard portion having an inverse taper comprising
approximately three tenths of the length of the blade
25 and having a maximum chord ct approximately three
times the chord of the base of the blade, chord c at any
radius r of said inverse taper conforming substantially
to the formula:
30 c=c1+(i-1) for acsacsl.
Where
co-the blade chord at the base of the blade
c=the blade tip chord
35 R=the blade tip radius
x=nondimensional radius
r
R
40 x=nondimensional radius at inboard end of inverse
tip taper.
References Cited in the file of this patent
45
UNITED STATES PATENTS
1,427,307 MaKenney ---------- - Aug. 29, 1922
1,692,081 De La Cierva ---------- Nov. 20, 1928
1,855,660 Allen ------------------ Apr. 26, 1932
2,014,242 Weichwald ------------Sept. 10, 1935
50 2,070,657 Hafner ------'m a - ran m r - - - Feb. 16, 1937
2,152,861 Bennett ---------------- Apr. 4, 1939
2,532,371 Peterson ---------------- Dec. 5, 1950
FOREIGN PATENTS
229,375 Germany -------------- Dec. 14, 1910
820,131 France ---------------- Nov. 4, 1937