Design of emergency breakaway device for helicopter hovering refuelling

Abstract

In the helicopter hover refuelling system, the emergency breakaway device is an important component to ensure the safety of the helicopter. It requires automatic disconnection and sealing of the pipeline under the tension of 1700–2000 N. The claw type emergency breakaway device was designed, the three-dimensional model is established for dynamic analysis, and the optimal parameters of the breakaway device are obtained by orthogonal experiment. Then, the calculation equation of the braking force is obtained through analysis. The sealing structure of the emergency breakaway device adopts a pair of poppet valves. In order to verify the reliability of the braking force and the seal, the emergency breakaway device is subjected to a water-passing test. The results show that the emergency breakaway device is separated with the required breaking force and the leakage amount is zero after the breakaway.

Keywords

• helicopters
• design engineering
• valves
• seals (stoppers)
• claw type emergency breakaway device design
• helicopter hovering refuelling
• helicopter safety
• three-dimensional model
• dynamic analysis
• sealing structure
• poppet valves
• water-passing test