I fly in front of 4 double V-belts, routinly seeing short bursts of
280 hp
and constantly seeing at least 205, with plenty of powerchanges on
the way.
They last at least 2200 hours (where they get changed anyway).
Additionally
they get used as a engagement clutchfor a min of 2500 times, to
connect the
engine with the rotor drive. Can't vote for it, but the most heat
they get
is actually from the engine and not produced by themselves. If your
belts
can't handle 170 hp you have something wrong in the gear design.
Thomas,
Actually the vee belt drives seem to do better than the cog belts. It
you don't need a timed connection vee belts work very well. I designed the
cog belt
drive exactly to the HTD specs. In fact I used over the counter
sprockets carefully bored to fit. Still had problems. Usually a sudden
shearing of the cover
material on the tooth side of the cog belt.
Bill Jespon
I agree, if you do not need the exact timing feature of the cogbelt you are
better off with the V.
Though I didn't see any V-belts on superchargers yet. Besides the cogs are
rather loud when the rpm increases - air trapped between the beltcogs and
the sprockets. I saw some hot rodders drilling holes in every valley on the
sprockets, but it still is loud.
V-belts or plantary!!
Thomas J: :)
The problem with a bunch of V belts is the shafts and shaft supports required
become long and heavy. It also takes up a lot of volume. On the Robinson helicopter
this volume is no problem. Also the Robinson requires a disconnect clutch
and a movable idler on the V-belts is a simple way of doing that.
Fitting it into an aircraft cowling on the other hand is another matter entirely.
What pray tell is the matter with planetaria's? They have been highly successful on
aircraft engines for the past 80 years. Used on the RR Falcon V12 in 1917. There is
no beating the weight and compact size.
Paul Lamar
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