Eurocopter’s AS350 series helicopter uses Turbomeca’s Arriel line of engines. The Arriel 1B was certified in 1977 with 640shp. Throughout the years various upgrades have raised the output power, the most recent was in 2011 with the Arriel 2D at 951shp. The Arriel design uses a two stage compressor. The first stage is an axial compressor that draws in ambient air and increases its pressure and speed. It is then directed to the centrifugal compressor that further compresses the intake air to 118.9 PSI and raises its temperature to 335 degrees C before the air enters the combustion chamber. Because the centrifugal compressor is designed to be very efficient at high turbine speeds (high power demand) a bleed valve vents the excess pressure from the axial compressor at low turbine speeds (low power demand).

 

The bleed valve is normally open when the engine is shutdown, during starting, and at low power settings. Unlike some compressor bleed valves the Arriel series engines’ are modulated, so as the pilot increases the power the bleed valve gradually starts closing. In the Eurocopter AS350 helicopter when the bleed valve is fully closed a green and white indicator in the cockpit disappears.  If the indicator does not disappear at high power settings, this tells the pilot that the bleed valve has failed to close and maximum engine power will not be available. If the indicator does not reappear at low power settings, the bleed valve has failed to open and the engine may experience compressor stall or surge.  In this case, the pilot should avoid abrupt power changes.

 

Eurocopter uses composite technology in the AStar’s main and tail rotor systems. The helicopter’s two-blade tail rotor uses a single composite spar that runs through both blades. It is clamped in the middle at the hub and pitch changes are accomplished by twisting the composite material. The spar resists the twisting and tries to return to its natural state (it has a 10 degree pre-twist). This force is referred to as a zero-pitch-return-force and is fairly strong. Making the spar thick enough to have the necessary strength also makes it hard to twist. In normal operation with hydraulic boost, the tail rotor servo delivers enough force to overpower the zero-pitch-return-force and twists the spar as necessary changing the blades’ pitch angle. Thus, producing the amount of tail rotor thrust the pilot requires.

 

The boss weights assist by generating a centrifugal force that opposes the stronger zero-pitch-return-force. Essentially, they help hold twist in the spar reducing the workload on the tail rotor servo. During a hydraulic system failure the pilot must change tail rotor pitch by manually twisting the spar. The centrifugal force generated from the boss weights reduces the amount of pedal pressure required by the pilot to maintain yaw control. To further assist the pilot during hydraulic failures Eurocopter added a yaw load compensator to the tail rotor control linkage in the higher gross weight variants (B1, B2 and B3).