EagleEye
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EagleEye

EagleEye

Eagle Eye is a multi-purpose unmanned vehicle with GDP, which was designed by engineers from the American company Bell together with the company Scaled Composites. Experimental sample Eagle Eye with rotary engine gondolas have been created to find out the basic working and flight characteristics of the experimental engine with its further improvement. In addition, the designers pursued the goal of identifying the potential in the operation of the engine with swivel gondolas for future UAVs with vertical takeoff and landing. Bell specifically suggested that Scaled Composites develop and manufacture a component for the 2 frameworks of the prototype model, since the specialists from Scaled had great experience in this field. In addition, the company began to design the chassis, propulsion system and control system.

For Eagle Eye had to create extremely complex structure arrangement of bearing elements, since it according to the requirements needed to connect the quality of man and the usual flight of the aircraft. Allison C20 engine installed in the middle of the fuselage and connected to the unifying gear of the drive shafts which pass through the center of the wing and attached to the transmission to all the slanted parts of the wing. The inclined part is present and the drive transmission which is used to move the inclined portion with the rotor and the transmission.

During normal flight and soaring wing experiencing quite a variety of structural overload, leading to an additional problem - the interior of the wing was to be wet wing (the fuel tank), but it is directly proportional to contradict the need to ensure dryness of the drive shaft transmission pipelines.

The multi-layered composite fuselage consists of 3 collapsible parts: tail, central and nasal. Such a scheme helped to facilitate the convenient transportation and storage of UAVs. The bow was mounted on hinges, which provided a free access to the equipment. The composition of the central part: engine, wings, fuel tanks and chassis. It can be accessed through the removable top fuselage cover. The tail detachable part was attached to the rest of the structure using conventional screws. It includes many antennas and drives that help to control the slopes of the unmanned vehicle. All the main attachments and parts that were supplied by Scaled Composites and the system components together with the engine, oil coolers, gears, aircraft control systems, flaps and steering controls were pre-checked before being installed by Bell engineers.

The design was subjected to static loads in the presence of the customer. Additionally conducted training for training. The customer - the US Air Force. The first instance was unsuccessful, and the test was damaged, but the second has exceeded all expectations. He showed all phases of flight and the guy, and the transitions between them.

UAV demonstrated their abilities to good maximum speed (322 km / h), while the range of the device is 257 km. The Air Force is not very happy with the length of the flight, all 5 hours, but the UAV still able to rise to a height of more than 6 km. Total all the positive aspects led to the signing of the contract for the supply of several dozen Eagle Eye UAV into the ranks of the US Air Force.

EagleEye. Characteristics:



Modification   Eagle Eye
Wingspan, m   3.75
Aircraft Length m   5.00
The diameter of the rotor, m   2.50
Weight, kg  
engine's type   2 GTD Allison 250-C20B
power, kWt   X 2 258
Maximum speed km / h   322
Flight distance, km   257
Flight duration, h   5
Practical ceiling, m   6096

 

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