Hamilton Standard Hydromatic Propellers

 

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The variable-pitch aircraft propeller allows the adjustment in flight of blade pitch, making optimal use of the engine’s power under varying flight conditions. On multi-engined aircraft it also permits feathering the propeller--stopping its rotation--of a nonfunctioning engine to reduce drag and vibration.

The Hydromatic propeller was designed for larger blades, faster rate of pitch change, and wider range of pitch control than earlier types of controllable-pitch propellers. The Hydromatic played a distinguished role in allied combat aircraft in World War II. Its continuing development has incorporated many features used on later aircraft, including today’s turboprop planes.

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The Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propeller represented a major advance in propeller design and laid the groundwork for further advancements in propulsion. The Hydromatic was designed to accommodate larger blades for increased thrust, and provide a faster rate of pitch change and a wider range of pitch control. This propeller utilized high-pressure oil, applied to both sides of the actuating piston, for pitch control as well as feathering , the act of stopping propeller rotation on a non-functioning engine to reduce drag and vibration  and  allowing multiengined aircraft to safely continue flight on remaining engines.

The Hydromatic entered production in the late 1930s, just in time to meet the requirements of the high-performance military and transport aircraft of World War II.

The propeller’s performance, durability and reliability made a major contribution to the successful efforts of the U.S. and Allied air forces. 

 

Many of the hydromatic propellers are used with older type aircraft. A hydromatic propeller has a double-acting governor that uses oil pressure on both sides of the propeller piston. Many larger turboprop systems also use this type of system. The governors are similar in construction and principle of operation in normal constant-speed systems. The major difference is in the pitch-changing mechanism. In the hydromatic propeller, no counterweights are used, and the moving parts of the mechanism are completely enclosed. Oil pressure and the centrifugal twisting moment of the blades are used together to turn the blades to a lower angle. The main advantages of the hydromatic propeller are the large blade angle range and the feathering and reversing features. 

 

This propeller system is a double-acting hydraulic propeller system in which the hydraulic pressure (engine oil pressure) on one piston dome is used against governor oil pressure on the other side of the piston. These two opposing hydraulic forces are used to control and change blade angle or pitch. Although hydromatic propeller systems are very old, some are still used on radial engines. Larger new turboprop systems also use this opposing hydraulic force and double-acting governor systems.

 

The distributor valve or engine-shaft-extension assembly provides oil passages for governor or auxiliary oil to the inboard side of the piston and for engine oil to the outboard side. During unfeathering operation, the distributor shifts under auxiliary pressure and reverses these passages so that oil from the auxiliary pump flows to the outboard side of the piston and oil on the inboard side flows back to the engine. The engine-shaft-extension assembly is used with propellers that do not have feathering capabilities.

 

The hydromatic propeller [Figure 1] is composed of four major components:

1. The hub assembly,

2. The dome assembly,

3. The distributor valve assembly (for feathering on single-acting propellers) or engine-shaft-extension assembly (for nonfeathering or double-acting propellers), and

4. The anti-icing assembly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Figure 1

The hub assembly is the basic propeller mechanism. It contains both the blades and the mechanical means for holding them in position. The blades are supported by the spider and retained by the barrel. Each blade is free to turn about its axis under the control of the dome assembly.

 

The dome assembly contains the pitch-changing mechanism for the blades. Its major components are the:

1. Rotating cam,

2. Fixed cam,

3. Piston, and

4. Dome shell.

When the dome assembly is installed in the propeller hub, the fixed cam remains stationary with respect to the hub. The rotating cam, which can turn inside the fixed cam, meshes with gear segments on the blades. The piston operates inside the dome shell and is the mechanism that converts engine and governor oil pressure into forces that act through the cams to turn propeller blades.

 

Principles of Operation

 

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Figure 2

 

The pitch-changing mechanism of hydromatic propellers is a mechanical-hydraulic system in which hydraulic forces acting on a piston are transformed into mechanical twisting forces acting on the blades. Linear movement of the piston is converted to rotary motion by a cylindrical cam. A bevel gear on the base of the cam mates with bevel gear segments attached to the butt ends of the blades, thereby turning the blades. This blade pitch-changing action can be understood by studying the schematic in Figure 2.

 

The centrifugal force acting on a rotating blade includes a component force that tends to move the blade toward low pitch. As shown in Figure 2, a second force, engine oil pressure, is supplied to the outboard side of the propeller piston to assist in moving the blade toward low pitch.

 

Propeller governor oil, taken from the engine oil supply and boosted in pressure by the engine-driven propeller governor, is directed against the inboard side of the propeller piston. It acts as the counterforce, which can move the blades toward higher pitch. By metering this high-pressure oil to, or draining it from, the inboard side of the propeller piston by means of the constant-speed control unit, the force toward high pitch can balance and control the two forces toward low pitch. In this way, the propeller blade angle is regulated to maintain a selected rpm.

 

The basic propeller control forces acting on the Hamilton Standard propeller are centrifugal twisting force and high pressure oil from the governor. The centrifugal force acting on each blade of a rotating propeller includes a component force that results in a twisting moment about the blade center line that tends, at all times, to move the blade toward low pitch. Governor pump output oil is directed by the governor to either side of the propeller piston. The oil on the side of the piston opposite this high-pressure oil returns to the intake side of the governor pump and is used over again. Engine oil at engine supply pressure does not enter the propeller directly but is supplied only to the governor. During constant-speed operations, the double-acting governor mechanism sends oil to one side or the other of the piston as needed to keep the speed at a specified setting.

 

Feathering Operation

 

 

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Figure 3

A typical hydromatic propeller feathering installation is shown in Figure 3. When the feathering push-button switch is depressed, the low current circuit is established from the battery through the push-button holding coil and from the battery through the solenoid relay. As long as the circuit remains closed, the holding coil keeps the push button in the depressed position. Closing the solenoid establishes the high current circuit from the battery to the feathering motor pump unit. The feathering pump picks up engine oil from the oil supply tank, boosts its pressure, if necessary, to the relief valve setting of the pump, and supplies it to the governor high-pressure transfer valve connection. Auxiliary oil entering the high-pressure transfer valve connection shifts the governor transfer valve, which hydraulically disconnects the governor from the propeller and at the same time opens the propeller governor oil line to auxiliary oil. The oil flows through the engine transfer rings, through the propeller shaft governor oil passage, through the distributor valve port, between lands, and finally to the inboard piston end by way of the valve inboard outlet.

 

The distributor valve does not shift during the feathering operation. It merely provides an oil passageway to the inboard piston end for auxiliary oil and the outboard piston end for engine oil. The same conditions described for underspeed operation exist in the distributor valve, except that oil at auxiliary pressure replaces drain oil at the inboard end of the land and between lands. The distributor-valve spring is backed up by engine oil pressure, which means that at all times the pressure differential required to move the piston is identical with that applied to the distributor valve.

 

The propeller piston moves outboard under the auxiliary oil pressure at a speed proportional to the rate the oil is supplied. This piston motion is transmitted through the piston rollers operating in the oppositely inclined cam tracks of the fixed cam and the rotating cam, and is converted by the bevel gears into the blade-twisting moment. Only during feathering or unfeathering is the low mechanical advantage portion of the cam tracks used. (The low mechanical advantage portion lies between the break and the outboard end of the track profile.) Oil at engine pressure, displaced from the outboard piston end, flows through the distributor valve outboard inlet, past the outboard end of the valve land, through the valve port, into the propeller shaft engine oil passage, and is finally delivered into the engine lubricating system. Thus, the blades move toward the full high-pitch (or feathered) angle.

 

Having reached the full-feathered position, further movement of the mechanism is prevented by contact between the high-angle stop ring in the base of the fixed cam and the stop lugs set in the teeth of the rotating cam. The pressure in the inboard piston end now increases rapidly, and upon reaching a set pressure, the electric cutout switch automatically opens. This cutout pressure is less than that required to shift the distributor valve.

 

Opening the switch deenergizes the holding coil and releases the feathering push-button control switch. Release of this switch breaks the solenoid relay circuit, which shuts off the feathering pump motor. The pressures in both the inboard and outboard ends of the piston drop to zero, and, since all the forces are balanced, the propeller blades remain in the feathered position. Meanwhile, the governor high-pressure transfer valve has shifted to its normal position as soon as the pressure in the propeller governor line drops below that required to hold the valve open.

 

Unfeathering Operation

 

To unfeather a hydromatic propeller, depress and hold in the feathering switch push-button control switch. As in the case of feathering a propeller, the low-current control circuits from the battery through the holding coil and from the battery through the solenoid are completed when the solenoid closes. The high-current circuit from the battery starts the motor-pump unit, and oil is supplied at a high pressure to the governor transfer valve.

 

Auxiliary oil entering through the high-pressure transfer valve connection shifts the governor transfer valve and disconnects the governor from the propeller line; in the same operation, auxiliary oil is admitted. The oil flows through the engine oil transfer rings, through the propeller shaft governor oil passage, and into the distributor valve assembly.

 

When the unfeathering operation begins, the piston is in the extreme outboard position. The oil enters the inboard piston end of the cylinder by way of the distributor valve inboard outlet. As the pressure on the inboard end of the piston increases, the pressure against the distributor valve land builds up. When the pressure becomes greater than the combined opposing force of the distributor valve spring and the oil pressure behind this spring, the valve shifts. Once the valve shifts, the passages through the distributor valve assembly to the propeller are reversed. A passage is opened between lands and through a port to the outboard piston end by way of the distributor valve outlet. As the piston moves inboard under the auxiliary pump oil pressure, oil is displaced from the inboard piston end through the inlet ports between the valve lands, into the propeller shaft engine oil lands, and into the propeller shaft engine oil passage where it is discharged into the engine lubricating system. At the same time, the pressure at the cutout switch increases and the switch opens. However, the circuit to the feathering pump and motor unit remains complete as long as the feathering switch is held in.

 

With the inboard end of the propeller piston connected to drain and auxiliary pressure flowing to the outboard end of the piston, the piston moves inboard, unfeathering the blades. As the blades are unfeathered, they begin to windmill and assist the unfeathering operation by the added force toward low pitch brought about by the centrifugal twisting moment. When the engine speed has increased to approximately 1,000 rpm, the operator shuts off the feathering pump motor. The pressure in the distributor valve and at the governor transfer valve decreases, allowing the distributor valve to shift under the action of the governor high-pressure transfer valve spring. This action reconnects the governor with the propeller and establishes the same oil passages through the distributor valve that are used during constant-speed and feathering operations.

 

Setting the Propeller Governor

 

The propeller governor incorporates an adjustable stop that limits the maximum speed at which the engine can run. As soon as the takeoff rpm is reached, the propeller moves off the low-pitch stop. The larger propeller blade angle increases the load on the engine, thus maintaining the prescribed maximum engine speed. At the time of propeller, propeller governor, or engine installation, the following steps are normally taken to ensure that the powerplant obtains takeoff rpm. During ground runup, move the throttle to takeoff position and note the resultant rpm and manifold pressure. If the rpm obtained is higher or lower than the takeoff rpm prescribed in the manufacturer’s instructions, reset the adjustable stop on the governor until the prescribed rpm is obtained.