Helicopter test rigs

The first Swiss helicopter

Kopter builds test rigs

Kopter Group AG was founded in 2007 with the aim of developing, building and distributing a new generation of turbine helicopters. The SH09 helicopter is the first helicopter developed and manufactured in Switzerland. Development started from scratch. Prototype 3 was put through its paces in Mollis and now the test flights in Sicily are on the program.

Kopter has 300 talented employees and is headquartered near Zurich. It has production and assembly facilities in Glarus. In order to test the newly developed components and validate them for approval, Kopter built some of its own test benches. Parkem's drive technology was used perfectly on the main gearbox, tail rotor gearbox and main rotor test rigs.

Test bench rear gearbox

The rear gearbox test bench is equipped with three GSM30 electric actuators, which can be used to simulate the tensile and compressive loads as well as bending moments on the rear gearbox. Each cylinder achieves a peak force of 7.2kN. The GSM cylinders were used because of their compactness. They are constructed in such a way that the synchronous motor is built around the planetary roller spindle, i.e. the rotor of the motor is also the spindle nut of the planetary gearbox.

Test bench main gearbox

The main transmission test bench was equipped with three ETH100 electric actuators to simulate the rotor forces. The cylinders (each offset by 120 degrees) transmit the forces to the gearbox. Each cylinder can achieve a force of 63kN. Using these electric actuators, it is possible to simulate various flight maneuvers and loads on the main gearbox.

Test bench main rotor

The "Whirltower" is used to test the rotor blades and the rotor head. A 1000kW synchronous motor is installed on the tower, which simulates the drive power of the helicopter. To move the swashplate with the desired control commands, three ETH80 electric actuators with a nominal force of 6kN each were used.

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