HERRB · Helicopter Electric Regenerative Rotor Brake

The proposal outlines a design process coupled with a full evaluation and testing phase for a fully electric replacement for the current mechanical-hydraulic rotor brake system that exists on most large rotorcraft in production currently allow regenerative capture of the inertial energy stored in the aircraft drivetrain during deceleration.The concept offers further potential alongside other similar projects to downsize and in the long term even remove the hydraulic circuit that exists on aircraft resulting such that the benefits of electrical systems becomes significant. Furthermore, once on the aircraft, installation of the equipment provides potential for several performance and system benefits as there would exist coupled to the rotor a bi-directional power flow controller within an independent energy store. Possible systems would include fast rotor start, auto-gyro assist for safe landing in the event of primary power failure and extra power on-board electrical power generation for redundancy during flight.""