A turbine engine including: a rotor having at least one variable-pitch blade which is guided to rotate on bearings relative to a fixed structure; a system for controlling the pitch of the at least one blade, the control system being rigidly secured to the rotor and including a first actuator driven by energy, and the control system further being disposed axially upstream of the bearings; a device for transferring the energy, which is disposed axially between the bearings, the transfer device including a stationary element and a mobile element; wherein the rotor is annular and delimits an inner space which is open towards the upstream side and inside of which the control system is disposed.

A system and method for detecting fixed pitch operation of a variable pitch propeller of an engine are provided. A command signal for maintaining a rotational speed of the propeller at a reference speed is output. An actual value of at least one of the rotational speed and a blade angle of the propeller is obtained. From the actual value, it is assessed whether an expected change in the at least one of the rotational speed and the blade angle of the propeller has occurred in response to the command signal. Responsive to determining that the expected change in the at least one of the rotational speed and the blade angle of the propeller has not occurred in response to the command signal, operation of the propeller at fixed pitch is detected and an alert output accordingly.

In an embodiment, proprotor pitch ranges used during nominal cruise flight may be varied. By selecting ideal combinations of proprotor pitch angle and proprotor rpm, instead of the proprotor blade pitch bearing spending most of its time in a first range, multiple ranges may be alternated between. Additionally, in an aircraft with multiple proprotors, the portion of total thrust produced by each individual proprotor may be varied over time in order to allow for proprotor blade pitch angle to be varied without varying proprotor rpm. By properly cycling between different blade pitch ranges, bearing life can be significantly increased.

In an embodiment, proprotor pitch ranges used during nominal cruise flight may be varied. By selecting ideal combinations of proprotor pitch angle and proprotor rpm, instead of the proprotor blade pitch bearing spending most of its time in a first range, multiple ranges may be alternated between. Additionally, in an aircraft with multiple proprotors, the portion of total thrust produced by each individual proprotor may be varied over time in order to allow for proprotor blade pitch angle to be varied without varying proprotor rpm. By properly cycling between different blade pitch ranges, bearing life can be significantly increased.

A propeller system includes a rotatable housing having at least one propeller blade mounted thereon and an electric pitch control motor within the rotatable housing. A pitch control member is coupled to the propeller blade and extends through a wall of the rotatable housing. The pitch control motor is configured to move the pitch control member and to thereby vary the pitch of the propeller blade.

A propeller system includes a rotatable housing having at least one propeller blade mounted thereon and an electric pitch control motor within the rotatable housing. A pitch control member is coupled to the propeller blade and extends through a wall of the rotatable housing. The pitch control motor is configured to move the pitch control member and to thereby vary the pitch of the propeller blade.

A control system (50) for an electro-hydraulic servo-actuator (26) envisages: a controller (55), to generate a control current (I.sub.c), designed to control actuation of the electro-hydraulic servo-actuator (26), implementing a position control loop based on a position error (e.sub.p), the position error (e.sub.p) being a difference between a reference position (Pos.sub.ref) and a measured position (Pos.sub.meas) of the electro-hydraulic servo-actuator (26); and a limitation stage (58), coupled to the controller (55) to provide a limitation of the actuator speed of the electro-hydraulic servo-actuator (26); the limitation stage (58) limits a rate of change of a driving current (I.sub.d) to be supplied to the electro-hydraulic servo-actuator (26), in order to limit the actuator speed.

A control system (50) for an electro-hydraulic servo-actuator (26) envisages: a controller (55), to generate a control current (I.sub.c), designed to control actuation of the electro-hydraulic servo-actuator (26), implementing a position control loop based on a position error (e.sub.p), the position error (e.sub.p) being a difference between a reference position (Pos.sub.ref) and a measured position (Pos.sub.meas) of the electro-hydraulic servo-actuator (26); and a limitation stage (58), coupled to the controller (55) to provide a limitation of the actuator speed of the electro-hydraulic servo-actuator (26); the limitation stage (58) limits a rate of change of a driving current (I.sub.d) to be supplied to the electro-hydraulic servo-actuator (26), in order to limit the actuator speed.

The present invention relates to a device for directly controlling a blade which comprises a stator (1), at least one blade carrier (7) composed of at least one curved magnet (6), the blade carrier (7) being secured to at least one blade (3) and pivotally coupled to the rotor (8) for varying the alpha angle of said blades with the excitation of the stator (1). The stator (1) is a partially spherical stator, the stator core (1) being the intersection of the blade axis (22) and the rotor axis (20), said stator being radially close to the magnets (3) to control the rotation of the blades (3) around the blade axis (22). A magnetic ring (5) holds the blades (3) in a neutral position, the system can be compared to a cyclically controlled mechanical oscillator, the frequency, phase and amplitude of the oscillation being controlled by said stator. Device providing a compact, lightweight and robust solution for controlling the direction of an aircraft.

The present invention relates to a device for directly controlling a blade which comprises a stator (1), at least one blade carrier (7) composed of at least one curved magnet (6), the blade carrier (7) being secured to at least one blade (3) and pivotally coupled to the rotor (8) for varying the alpha angle of said blades with the excitation of the stator (1). The stator (1) is a partially spherical stator, the stator core (1) being the intersection of the blade axis (22) and the rotor axis (20), said stator being radially close to the magnets (3) to control the rotation of the blades (3) around the blade axis (22). A magnetic ring (5) holds the blades (3) in a neutral position, the system can be compared to a cyclically controlled mechanical oscillator, the frequency, phase and amplitude of the oscillation being controlled by said stator. Device providing a compact, lightweight and robust solution for controlling the direction of an aircraft.