Bell's New Design Could Make Helicopters Quieter—and Safer

Since helicopters appeared some 80 years ago, they’ve used a single high-speed tail rotor to counteract the torque of the main rotor, stabilizing the aircraft in flight. But that rotor is both the key source of noise for helicopters and a big safety risk while on the ground.

Now veteran helicopter manufacturer Bell has a design to replace the mechanically driven tail rotor assembly with four much smaller, shrouded electric fans. The new system, unveiled this week after footage of its demonstration leaked online, will greatly muffle the aircraft’s sound. It also has the potential to make helicopters safer and easier to fly, and could grease the skids for future electrified aircraft of all types.

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Developed over the last two years and tested at the company’s facility in Mirabel, Quebec, the “electrically distributed anti-torque” system, or EDAT for short, resembles a quadcopter drone set vertically inside the Bell 429 helicopter’s rear vertical fin. EDAT uses the four variable-speed propellers to function the same way a conventional tail rotor does, by adjusting airflow through the blades to both keep the fuselage steady and aim it in different directions. Pilots use foot pedals to adjust this motion, allowing the aircraft to “yaw” left and right while, say, in a hover.

The new system’s trick is in the control mechanism. A conventional tail rotor always operates at full speed because it’s mechanically linked to the main rotor; pilots adjust the pitch of the blades to control airflow. By contrast, the new electric fans control airflow by operating at different speeds. “We got rid of all the mechanical linkages that change the pitch of the blades and replaced them with electric wires,” Bell program manager Eric Sinusas said. “We realized that we don’t actually need that driveshaft and gearbox that we’ve had for the last 80 or so years.”

That transition required considerable engineering effort and high-precision software to make the system safe and reliable. EDAT doesn’t run off a battery, but instead draws power from a generator attached to the helicopter’s turbine engine. That engine will still generate its usual noise, but the racket typically generated by the tail rotorâ€"as the rotor tips pass through the air at high speedsâ€"will be reduced. Though Bell hasn’t yet disclosed the percentage in noise reduction, the company says it’s “significant.”

Sinusas said his team chose the four-fan array because a single larger electric rotor would be heavier and less responsive, with more sluggish changes in speed. Smaller electric fans are also quieter, which was the primary motivation for developing the system. “Noise has always been there, but it really hasn’t been a priority to reduce it until recently,” he added. “We’re at the point where locations are banning helicopter flights because of the noise levels, and that prompted us to ask how we can solve this.”

Converting the tail rotor to an all-electric system solves other problems. It improves stability because the rotors don’t need to be constantly in motion, unlike a conventional tail rotor. The pilot can actually turn the fans off in forward flight, as the vertical fin they’re embedded within stabilizes the aircraft. (Conventional tail rotors are only needed for hovering and low-speed flight, but they run constantly because of the link to the main engine.) Also, because the system is fly-by-wire, meaning controlled electrically rather than through mechanical linkages, the computer can control the fans. This can potentially eliminate the need for the pilot to have to use the pedals at all. An automated version of the EDAT would thus be a form of autopilot.