In a workshop organized by the Aeronautical Society of India on “Aviation Environment – Community Noise and Solutions”, Eurocopter introduced its two noise-oriented innovations, “Blue Pulse Controls” and “Blue Edge Blades”, from its Bluecopter® Technology programme which was developed to provide advanced technological solutions to lower acoustics and emissions for the protection of the environment.
In its participation in the workshop organized by the Aeronautical Society of India at the Hyatt Hotel in New Delhi today, Eurocopter India brought in its specialist, Francois Toulmay, to introduce Eurocopter’s noise reduction systems from its Bluecopter® Technology programme. From Eurocopter’s Research & Technology department, Francois is also part of the team working on the Green Rotorcraft platform in the EC Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative.
The Bluecopter® Technology programme was introduced by Eurocopter, as a commitment to “continuously improve our processes to further reduce the impact of both our Group and our products and services on the environment”, as highlighted by Eurocopter President & CEO Lutz Bertling.
With reduction of community noise as the focus, Francois Toulmay introduced two noise-oriented innovations from Bluecopter® – Blue pulse controls and Blue edge blades.
Blue pulse controls - This active control system has the primary objective of reducing the system-inherent noise level generated by the interference of the rotor blade tip vortices from one rotor blade with the following blades. At the same time, the vibrations will also be reduced significantly in order to increase comfort of passengers and service life of sensitive components.
Blue edge blades – This programme aims to reduce the noise generated by the blade-vortex interaction, which is generated at the tip of the blade of any helicopter. The double arrow shape of the Blue Edge blade allows more time for the blade to interact with the vortex and thus dephases acoustic sources. Consequently, the resulting noise level is greatly reduced, and the impulsive character of the acoustic signal fades as well.
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Such environmentally friendly technologies will be installed progressively on the Eurocopter product range as they mature.
Eurocopter is a funding member of the Clean Sky Joint Technology Initiative, a wide scale European research effort – supported by the European Union and the major aeronautical industry groups – to propose technological solutions for meeting the environmental goals set by the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE). Eurocopter hosts a Bluecopter® dedicated website www.bluecopter.com which provides details of the programme.
About Eurocopter India Pvt Limited
On October 20, 2010, Eurocopter inaugurated its new Indian subsidiary, which has been given the goals of expanding the world’s largest helicopter manufacturer’s commercial presence in this highly-promising marketplace, reinforcing its support and services network throughout the country, and further developing the company’s four-decade relationship with Indian industry. Eurocopter India Pvt. Ltd. is the 25th subsidiary established worldwide by Eurocopter and the 10th in Asia. It is the first and only foreign helicopter manufacturer in the world to have created a fully-fledged subsidiary in India. The new subsidiary is headquartered in New Delhi and has an existing facility in Bangalore for the management of industrial activity. An engineering centre will be created in Bangalore next year to support the company’s design, development and industrial activities, along with the opening of a new commercial office in Mumbai.
About Eurocopter (Website: www.eurocopter.com)
Established in 1992, the Franco-German-Spanish Eurocopter Group is a division of EADS, a world leader in aerospace, defense and related services. The Eurocopter Group employs approximately 17,500 people. In 2010, Eurocopter confirmed its position as the world’s number one helicopter manufacturer in the civil and parapublic market with a turnover of 4.8 billion Euros, orders for 346 new helicopters and a 49 percent market share in the civil and parapublic sectors. Overall, the Group’s helicopters account for 33 percent of the total worldwide civil and parapublic fleet. Eurocopter’s strong worldwide presence is ensured by its 30 subsidiaries and participations on five continents, along with a dense network of distributors, certified agents and maintenance centers. There are currently 11,200 Eurocopter helicopters in service and some 2,900 customers in 147 countries. Eurocopter offers the largest civil and military helicopter range in the world.