Blue Edge is an advanced design of

rotor blade A helicopter main rotor or rotor system is the combination of several rotary wings (rotor blades) with a control system, that generates the aerodynamic lift force that supports the weight of the helicopter, and the thrust that counteracts aerody ...

developed and produced by multinational

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

manufacturer

Airbus Helicopters Airbus Helicopters SAS (formerly Eurocopter Group) is the helicopter manufacturer, helicopter manufacturing division of Airbus. It is the largest in the industry in terms of revenues and turbine helicopter deliveries. Its head office is located ...

. Developed in cooperation with

ONERA The Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA) is the French national aerospace research centre. It is a public establishment with industrial and commercial operations, and carries out application-oriented research to supp ...

and the

German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (german: Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V., abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany ...

, the Blue Edge technology reportedly achieves a reduction in both noise emissions and

vibration Vibration is a mechanical phenomenon whereby oscillations occur about an equilibrium point. The word comes from Latin ''vibrationem'' ("shaking, brandishing"). The oscillations may be periodic function, periodic, such as the motion of a pendulum ...

as well as increased aerodynamic efficiency. Its existence was publicly revealed at the Heli-Expo 2010 in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

. During 2014, Airbus Helicopters commenced flight testing of the ''Bluecopter Demonstrator'', equipped with Blue Edge rotor blades amongst several other technologies. It has been incorporated onto several production helicopters, including the

Airbus Helicopters H160 The Airbus Helicopters H160 (formerly X4) is a medium utility helicopter being developed by Airbus Helicopters. Formally launched at Heli-Expo in Orlando, Florida on 3 March 2015, it is intended to replace the AS365 and EC155 models in the firm' ...

and the

Eurocopter EC145 The Eurocopter EC145 (now Airbus Helicopters H145) is a twin-engine light utility helicopter developed and manufactured by Airbus Helicopters. Originally designated as the ''BK 117'', the H145 is based upon the MBB/Kawasaki BK 117 C1, which ...

Development

The Blue Edge rotor was originally developed at

and the

under the auspices of the ERATO program. The agencies had a historic partnership with multinational

manufacturer

, pooling resources and data on rotorcraft-related research; during 2000, a research agreement between the three parties was signed to develop a full scale rotor blade for flight testing. According to aerospace researcher Yves Delrieux, the design of the Blue Edge rotor blade was defined using tools developed by ONERA from

wind tunnel Wind tunnels are large tubes with air blowing through them which are used to replicate the interaction between air and an object flying through the air or moving along the ground. Researchers use wind tunnels to learn more about how an aircraft ...

testing to model aerodynamic performance; these tools were claimed to have achieved a reduction in noise emissions and vibration as well as greater aerodynamic efficiency over conventional modes. During July 2007, flight testing of a five-bladed main rotor incorporating the Blue Edge blade design commenced using a modified

Eurocopter EC155 The Eurocopter EC155 (now Airbus Helicopters H155) is a long-range medium-lift passenger transport helicopter developed by Eurocopter from its Dauphin family for civil aviation use. It is a twin-engined aircraft and can carry up to 13 passenge ...

. The technology was first announced by Eurocopter at Heli-Expo 2010 in

; at the event, a company spokesperson claimed that tests conducted by the firm have indicated the new rotor blade was able to reduce the noise produced by a helicopter by three to four

decibels The decibel (symbol: dB) is a relative unit of measurement equal to one tenth of a bel (B). It expresses the ratio of two values of a Power, root-power, and field quantities, power or root-power quantity on a logarithmic scale. Two signals whose ...

. Eurocopter had referred to the blades as part of their new range of "Bluecopter" technology; this range also includes the ''Blue Pulse'' system of three flaps set into the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

of each rotor blade. In 2011, the company announced the

, originally referred to by the designation of ''X4'', promoting its use of advanced technologies.Thisdell, Dan
"Eurocopter X4 promises technical tour-de-force."
''Flight International'', 1 March 2011. Such features reportedly included the Blue Edge rotor blades, advanced pilot assistance functionality, and reduced vibration to "near-jet" levels of smoothness. Thus, the H160 is the first production rotorcraft be equipped with Blue Edge technology. Its rotor blades incorporates a double-swept shape that reduces the noise generation of blade-vortex interactions (BVI), a phenomenon which occurs when the blade impacts a vortex created at its tip, resulting in a 3–4 dB noise reduction and raising the effective payload by compared with a scaled

Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) AS365 Dauphin (''Dolphin''), also formerly known as the Aérospatiale SA 365 Dauphin 2, is a medium-weight multipurpose twin-engine helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. It was originally developed ...

equivalent.Dubois, Thierry
"Airbus Helicopters Unveils H160 Medium Twin."
"AIN Online" 3 March 2015. MilitaryFactorySkinner, Tony and Beth Maundrill
"Heli-Expo 2015: Introducing the H160."
''Shephard'', 3 March 2015. During 2014, Airbus Helicopters commenced flight testing of the ''Bluecopter Demonstrator'', an extensively modified unique model of the

Eurocopter EC135 The Eurocopter EC135 (now Airbus Helicopters H135) is a twin-engine civil light utility helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters (formerly known as Eurocopter). It is capable of flight under instrument flight rules (IFR) and is outfitted with ...

. In addition to the presence of the Blue Edge swept rotor blades, the demonstrator was outfitted with numerous other features for the purpose of exploring more efficient design elements, including economy-optimised single-engine operations, a relocated horizontal stabilizer outside the main rotor's downwash, an active rudder, and new water-based external paint; these changes were reportedly aimed at achieving a 40% reduction in overall fuel consumption from the standard model. In December 2014, it was revealed that the single-engine operations portion of the Bluecopter tests had been delayed to summer 2016 to perform necessary avionics changes, reportedly connected to the engine's

FADEC A full authority digital engine (or electronics) control (FADEC) is a system consisting of a digital computer, called an "electronic engine controller" (EEC) or "engine control unit" (ECU), and its related accessories that control all aspects of ai ...

systems. In March 2019, Airbus Helicopters announced that it was developing, in cooperation with Japanese manufacturer Kawasaki, an upgraded model of its existing

helicopter. Chiefly amongst its new features were a new bearingless five-bladed main rotor incorporating Blue Edge technologies, the testing of which had commenced back in April 2018. Furthermore, such changes are able to be retrofitted to existing H145s.

References

{{reflist Helicopter components

Development

See also

References