Abstract:
In September 2015 the DLR completed the first wind tunnel test of its patented Multiple Swashplate System (META) in the DNW's Large Low-Speed Facility (LLF) in the Netherlands. During these tests, the potential of this new active rotor control system to effectively reduce noise, vibrations and power consumption using several individual blade control (IBC) strategies, including 2/rev inputs, was successfully demonstrated on two different model rotors without using actuators in the rotating frame. For a Mach-scaled Bo105 model rotor power reductions of up to -4% in level flight and reductions of the weighted 4/rev vibratory hub loads of up to -77% in descent flight configuration were measured, and BVI noise levels could be reduced by up to -4:5dB by the application of 3/rev HHC, confirming findings from the HART II test. For the second model rotor (FTK-rotor) the maximum reductions were measured at -3%, -52% and -3:9dB for power, vibrations and BVI-noise, respectively. The preliminary results presented within this paper provide an initial overview over the measurements taken and and outlook on further, more in-depth analyses which will be available after further data evaluation.