Awesome Hydrogen Peroxide Rocket Tipped Helicopter!

This is freaking awesome! Is this a green chopper?



Heres some info about it:

The comment of the pilot was... "This is the most stable and smoothest vibration free helicopter I have flown"

The Dragonfly DF1 is a, wait for it... Rocket powered one-man helicopter! Although admittedly it doesn't look as good as it sounds.

Designed and built by Swisscopter, the Dragonfly DF1 uses a pair of hydrogen peroxide fueled rockets attached to the tips of the rotors for power - instead of a more conventional gas turbine engine found in most contemporary helicopters. This isn't a new idea, the British and American armed forces experimented with similar rocket-powered helicopter technology back in the 1950s but it never took off. Please forgive the pun.

The Dragonfly DF1 is a very basic machine which is incredibly light. It tips the scales at a featherweight 106 kgs (234 lbs). Yet it can carry an amazing 227 kgs (500 lbs) of pilot, fuel and cargo. Top speed of the aircraft is 115 mph (185 km/h), cruise speed is around 40 mph (65 km/h), and the flight time is up to 50 minutes - although an optional extra fuel tank takes this up to 100 minutes.

Control of the Dragonfly DF1 also differs from a more 'normal' helicopter. Instead of a joystick for banking left and right and controlling forward and backward movement, a collective control for engine power, and a set of rudder pedals for yaw control, the Dragonfly DF1 gets a much simpler handlebar mechanism which hangs down from the rotor head and allows the pilot to control the angle of the blades. A throttle lever allows for power adjustment.

While it might seem at first that this is some sort of cobbled together widow-maker, it is in fact a fully certified and sanctified machine which is approved by the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration).
Read more at www.liveleak.com...

Id like to buy one!

OG

Neat, thanks for sharing.

Looks pretty cool...but I wonder if that Hydrogen Peroxide is flamible...isnt that what the Russians used to use on torpedos ??

a reply to: aussiefly

Hydrogen peroxide is deadly if mishandled.

High-test peroxide

originally posted by: Dabrazzo
a reply to: aussiefly

Hydrogen peroxide is deadly if mishandled.

High-test peroxide

Damn...I just read that wiki page and it is serious stuff! As soon as they mentioned C-Stoff I recalled some of the horror stories of that propellant being misshandled.

Thanks for the link.

a reply to: aussiefly

T-Stoff actually.... hydrogen peroxide >80%

C-Stoff is 57% methanol / 30% hydrazine/ 13% water

The ww2 German komet interceptor ME163b used both in its Walter engine. The pilots and re-fuelers had to wear thick rubber suits due to leaks etc. I believe that they lost more pilots to fueling accidents, tank leaks/explosions, and undercarriages bouncing back up into the aircraft causing leaks/explosion.... than they did to enemy action.

The T-Stoff literally dissolved people. They would just hose out the suit and cockpit.

And yes, used in torpedoes.... implicated in the Kursk disaster.

What a lovely chemical to be handled by general aviation personnel. NOT!

a reply to: CovertAgenda

I wonder what the range is for this heli??

OG

a reply to: OrionsGem

It's in the OP. Forgive me for answering a question asked of someone else. Just trying to be helpful.

originally posted by: sputniksteve
a reply to: OrionsGem

It's in the OP. Forgive me for answering a question asked of someone else. Just trying to be helpful.

\

LOL I really should read the whole thing before asking. I was mesmerized by the video and skipped over the text!

OG

a reply to: OrionsGem

I wonder why this has a tail rotor, as using a tipjet powered main rotor does not create an opposing torque as per a normal heli (not multi rotor etc)

I suppose for yaw control, but that is a complex and power wasting exercise. One advantage of tipjets is that it does away with theneed for heavy rotor controls and driveshafts/gearboxes etc.

The Fairey Rotodyne used the engine jet efflux, and large control surfaces for this purpose

rotodyne

originally posted by: CovertAgenda
a reply to: OrionsGem

I wonder why this has a tail rotor, as using a tipjet powered main rotor does not create an opposing torque as per a normal heli (not multi rotor etc)

I suppose for yaw control, but that is a complex and power wasting exercise. One advantage of tipjets is that it does away with theneed for heavy rotor controls and driveshafts/gearboxes etc.

The Fairey Rotodyne used the engine jet efflux, and large control surfaces for this purpose

rotodyne

Are you sure that a tail rotor is not needed??? What about yaw control which is essential to the helicopters operation??

OG

a reply to: aussiefly
Its caustic depending on the strength, most fuels are flamable though..I wonder about reliability if the fuel has to be plumbed through all the rotor mechanism to get to the blade tips.

a reply to: OrionsGem
It would seem like it still needs a tail rotor..same kinda physics involved.

a reply to: OrionsGem

Super nice find, OG. F&S!.
I traditionally shy away from moving-wings, especially new tech
with rockets... but this thing is cool and irresistible, even if
cruise is only 40! Stable and smooth..hmm wonder what the tag is?

a reply to: OrionsGem

Are you sure that a tail rotor is not needed???

Yes quite sure. Not needed to counteract the yawing torque of a traditionally powered rotor head. Basic physics really.

Did you look at the link? The Rotodyne was several scales of magnitude larger and more powerful but do you see a tail rotor? Look at the pics linked to the wiki page provided. Most dont have tail rotor, and the ones that did, it was certainly a much feebler setup because its just for yaw control not anti-torque.

Ok i will type it out again....

--using a tipjet powered main rotor does not create an opposing torque as per a normal heli (not multi rotor etc)--

The only yaw torque generated would be from the friction caused by the rotor head bearings etc.

Ok my word aint enuff nowadays so.... to wikki we go (ugg)

tipjet

What about yaw control which is essential to the helicopters operation??

In my next sentence i stated....

I suppose for yaw control, but that is a complex and power wasting exercise. One advantage of tipjets is that it does away with the need for heavy rotor controls and driveshafts/gearboxes etc.

The thing is with these copters is that minimising weight is paramount. Tstoff 'thrusters' (much like the tipjets) to control yaw would be much lighter and less complex.

Nothing new... been around since ww2 in much the same format (tipjets using compressed air/tstoff/keroburners etc)

Rotorcraft using tip jets Percival P.74 - used engines in fuselage to produce efflux at wingtips. Engines never produced sufficient power and so it never flew. Further progress with the design using more powerful engines was cancelled. Hiller YH-32 Hornet - first flying 1950, 'jet jeep' had good lifting capability but was otherwise poor Mil V-7 - Soviet turbojet helicopter Fairey Jet Gyrodyne - provided data for the Rotodyne. First flew in 1954. Fairey Rotodyne - 48 seater short-haul airliner design. First flew in 1957. Cancelled due to doubts about noise of tipjets in service. Fairey Ultra-light Helicopter - First flew in 1955. Four built for military use but defence cuts left Fairey to continue development without support and there were no further orders. Fiat 7002 - first flew in 1961, only one built Focke-Wulf Fw Triebflügel German World War II interceptor design — not built McDonnell XV-1 - flew in 1954, compound gyroplane, cancelled due to insufficient advantage over contemporary helicopters Hughes XH-17 - flying crane (largest rotor of any type on a helicopter), cancelled due to inefficient design (range around 40 miles) NHI H-3 Kolibrie (Nederlandse Helikopter Industrie ) (ca 11 built) Innosuisse SwissCopter (DragonFly) Rotary Rocket Roton ATV Sud-Ouest Djinn - First flew in 1953. Use compressed air tip jets JK-1 Trzmiel (Polish prototype one-seat helicopter) VFW-Fokker H3 - two flew[4] None apart from the Sud-Ouest Djinn have made it into production.

P.S. FYI I mucked about with these things years ago using an old Solar APU supplying compressed air to tipjets burning kero. Yaw control via bleed air. Scary stuff thinking back.

Cheers!

a reply to: vonclod

Wrong.

Not caustic... heard of the pH scale?

Pure hydrogen peroxide has a pH of 6.2; thus it is considered to be a weak acid. The pH can be as low as 4.5 when diluted at approximately 60%. (this heli can use between 70% and 50% hydrogen peroxide)

h2o2 ph

a reply to: vonclod

And what Physics might that be?

(like the Chemistry in earlier post?)

hey, just curious...

what is produced chemically speaking from this chemical reaction...emission by-product, if you will?

is it a nice thing to do to mother nature?

a reply to: loveguy

Basically steam. Hot expanding steam. (and maybe a bit of contaminant byproduct)

Use as a monopropellant takes advantage of the decomposition of 70–98+% concentration hydrogen peroxide into steam and oxygen. The propellant is pumped into a reaction chamber where a catalyst, usually a silver or platinum screen, triggers decomposition, producing steam at over 600 °C (1,112 °F), which is expelled through a nozzle, generating thrust.

Its probably not as bad as other chemicals/fuels etc... but as always.... its the dosage that makes the poison.
Don't forget the manufacturing process would require equipment, consumables and energy, all with an environmental footprint.

h2o2 msds

a reply to: CovertAgenda
Well I have burned my skin with 33%..and yes quit familliar with P.H., why did my skin burn?, oxidation maybee? try getting something with a stronger concentration on your skin.
Trying to wrap my head around the rotor thing, the only thing under torque is the rotor so it is different.