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    Propeller Control System

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    Jabez Richards
    There are several systems that control variable pitch propellers, including single-acting and double-acting systems. Single-acting systems use counterweights and springs to drive the blades towards high pitch when hydraulic pressure is removed. Double-acting systems use hydraulic pressure on both sides of a piston to control pitch. Variable pitch propellers also have mechanisms like counterweights or pitch locks to prevent the blades from moving to a dangerous low pitch in the event of a failure. The systems are designed to allow feathering of the propeller during an engine shutdown through redundant components and emergency oil supplies.

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    Propeller Control System

    Uploaded by

    Jabez Richards
    34 views4 pages
    There are several systems that control variable pitch propellers, including single-acting and double-acting systems. Single-acting systems use counterweights and springs to drive the blades towards high pitch when hydraulic pressure is removed. Double-acting systems use hydraulic pressure on both sides of a piston to control pitch. Variable pitch propellers also have mechanisms like counterweights or pitch locks to prevent the blades from moving to a dangerous low pitch in the event of a failure. The systems are designed to allow feathering of the propeller during an engine shutdown through redundant components and emergency oil supplies.

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    There are several systems that control variable pitch propellers, including single-acting and double-acting systems. Single-acting systems use counterweights and springs to drive the blades towards high pitch when hydraulic pressure is removed. Double-acting systems use hydraulic pressure on both sides of a piston to control pitch. Variable pitch propellers also have mechanisms like counterweights or pitch locks to prevent the blades from moving to a dangerous low pitch in the event of a failure. The systems are designed to allow feathering of the propeller during an engine shutdown through redundant components and emergency oil supplies.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    34 views4 pages

    Propeller Control System

    Uploaded by

    Jabez Richards
    There are several systems that control variable pitch propellers, including single-acting and double-acting systems. Single-acting systems use counterweights and springs to drive the blades towards high pitch when hydraulic pressure is removed. Double-acting systems use hydraulic pressure on both sides of a piston to control pitch. Variable pitch propellers also have mechanisms like counterweights or pitch locks to prevent the blades from moving to a dangerous low pitch in the event of a failure. The systems are designed to allow feathering of the propeller during an engine shutdown through redundant components and emergency oil supplies.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    The passage describes different types of propeller control systems including single-acting, double-acting, and pitch-limiting systems. It also discusses feathering propellers and the dangers of operating below flight idle in flight.

    Single-acting systems use counterweights and springs to control pitch, while double-acting systems use hydraulic pressure on both sides of a piston. Pitch-limiting systems prevent unwanted movement to low pitch after failures.

    Pitch-limiting systems prevent the blades from moving to an unsafe low pitch in the event of hydraulic pressure loss. Counterweights or pitch locks limit movement to maintain a safe operating pitch.

    Propeller control systems

    • There are several different systems that are used to control propellers. These are:
    • Single-acting systems, with a spring and blade counterweights.
    • Double-acting systems, with either blade counterweights or a pitch lock mechanism.
    • The one common feature of these propeller control systems is that they all use hydraulic pressure acting on a
    piston to change the pitch angle of the blades.
    Single-acting systems.
    • A single-acting propeller has counterweighted blades and a feather spring that constantly push the blades toward
    high pitch (feather).
    • Since the blades are always being driven to high pitch, the propeller only needs a piston with pressure on one
    side to push back against the counterweights and spring. When the piston pressure is increased, the blades go
    toward low (flat) pitch.
    • When the piston pressure is decreased, the counterweights and springs drive the propeller back toward high
    pitch. The counterweights do most of the work to drive the blades to high pitch. The springs help feather when the
    propeller RPM is low and the centrifugal loads acting on the counterweights do not have enough force to drive the
    blades completely to feather.
    Double-acting systems.
    • A double-acting propeller uses a piston that provides force in both directions to control the propeller RPM. The
    governor controls the pressure on both sides of the piston to increase or decrease the pitch as required.
    • A double-acting propeller typically uses oil pressure, either from the normal high-pressure pump or from an
    auxiliary pump, to completely feather the blades, although it may also use counterweights to increase pitch in the
    event of oil system failure.
    Pitch-limiting systems.
    • The natural forces on a propeller blade want to drive the propeller blades to low pitch. In flight, this is an unsafe
    failure condition. At low pitch in flight, a propeller can windmill, overspeed, and produce high drag.
    • Without a safety device to prevent this from happening, a loss of hydraulic pressure could result in a propeller
    pitch angle that could create so much drag that the airplane could become uncontrollable.
    • Variable pitch propellers have either counterweights or a lock to limit unwanted blade angle movement to low
    pitch after failures.
    • Counterweights are attached to the blade at a position that will cause the centrifugal loads on the counterweights
    to drive the blades towards higher pitch (towards feather). In this way, a loss of hydraulic pressure will cause the
    pitch to increase to a safe setting.
    • A pitch lock is a device that locks the blade pitch when hydraulic pressure is lost.
    • Pitch locks are typically used on non-counterweighted, dual-acting propellers. The pitch lock mechanism will lock
    the blade pitch at a setting slightly less than the pitch of the propeller at the time the oil pressure was lost. The
    propeller is now operating at a safe pitch setting as a fixed-pitch propeller, allowing the powerplant to continue to
    provide thrust for the aircraft.
    Feathering the propeller
    • In cases of engine shutdown, it will almost always be possible to feather the propeller. The
    propeller control system is designed to continue to function when an engine is shut down, and
    will allow for feathering except in the unlikely event that the system has been assembled
    incorrectly, or the actuator jams.
    • If oil pressure is lost on a counterweighted propeller, the propeller will automatically increase
    pitch towards feather (in single-acting propellers, it will increase all the way to feather).
    • If the oil pressure is lost on a propeller with a pitch lock, there are several options available to
    feather the propeller.
    • If the pressure is lost due to a main pump failure, there is a backup pump that can be used to
    create pressure and feather the propeller.
    • If the oil pressure is lost because the engine oil has drained out, the propeller has a backup
    supply of oil sufficient to feather the propeller through the backup pump. Because of these
    redundancies, it is rare that the propeller cannot be feathered.
    • Even if that rare event does occur, the blade pitch is still limited either by the counterweights to
    a pitch angle near feather, or by the pitch lock to a safe setting.
    Operation below flight idle
    • Unless it is specifically permitted by the Airplane Flight Manual, any operation of the power
    lever below flight idle while in flight must be avoided due to high drag (potentially, dangerously
    high drag) and the overspeed it causes.
    • In flight, the forward speed of the airplane may cause the propeller to windmill at a very high
    speed as the propeller transitions to reverse pitch angle. Thus, operation below flight idle is
    typically restricted to ground operations.

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