Active Cabin Vibration Control for Light Single and Twin Engine Helicopters

More effective and wide-band capable vibration attenuation solutions are necessary for the future of rotorcraft. This target is valid for the whole fleet spectrum from small to large sized helicopters. Active cabin vibration control of rotor induced vibrations chiefly showed its potential for larger-sized helicopters, especially when compared to current passive or semi-active mass-spring systems. This paper presents Eurocopter's latest development to achieve considerable vibration reduction for light single and twin engine helicopters. An overview of the system design is given and the most important results achieved during several flight tests on different rotorcrafts are presented. It shows that the introduction of this active system boosts Eurocopter's light helicopters to exceptional comfort, not observed in its class before.