Solid Lubricants for Helicopter Tail Rotor Gearboxes

Abstract

Solid lubricants as retainers in rolling bearings and as idlers for load gearswere evaluated in a Bell UH-1 helicopter tail rotor drive gearbox under normallubricated conditions and also under emergency conditions of dry operation.Solid lubricants provided satisfactory gearbox operation using conventionalfluid lubrication in all tests at output loads of 49 hp and 65 hp. Emergency(dry) operational life was extended from a limited 15 minutes, with conventionalbearings and gears, to 70 minutes using dry lubricant filled polyimide compositebearing retainers and a composite idler gear in the gearbox at a load of 65 hp.Operation at 49 hp in the emergency condition using the composites providedstable operation with no indication of failure during the 100-minute test.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 01, 1970
Accession Number
AD0874373

Entities

People

  • Paul H. Bowen

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Army Aviation
  • Ball Bearings
  • Bearings
  • Composite Materials
  • Contracts
  • Failure Mode And Effect Analysis
  • Friction
  • Gear Teeth
  • Government Procurement
  • Governments
  • Helicopters
  • High Density
  • Lubricants
  • Lubrication
  • Rotary Wing Aircraft
  • Solid Lubricants
  • Test And Evaluation

Readers

  • Tribology (the study of the boundary interaction between sliding surfaces, lubrication, wear and friction).