HINDUSTAN AERONAUTICS LIMITED

(Helicopter Division, Bengaluru)

A dissertation submitted to
BANGALORE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
BANGALORE
Towards The Partial Fulfillment of The Requirement For
The Award of the Degree of
BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY
IN
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

BY: - SHUVANKEET NANDI

USN: 1BI15ME142
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to offer my sincerest thanks and deepest appreciation to all those who
helped me to complete my training with a bunch of useful knowledge. I also offer a very
special thanks to HAL, RESEARCH AND DESIGN CENTRE DIVISION Dynamics Group for
giving me such a golden opportunity of grateful stay in its industry as a trainee. I also
thank my department HOD (D-DYN) “Mr. N.K MAITI ” for his time to time suggestions
about the fields we can opt for in our future interest as an Aerospace Engineer. I also
pay my sincere thanks to my lecturer “Mr. ARVINDHAN R” for being my soul inspiration
towards my training in helicopter division as he continuously monitored me with all the
available suggestions about how good and exciting once career can be in the field of
Aerospace engineering and that helped me a lot in setting my approach towards this
professional training. I will also greet my special thanks to all staff members, who
treated me as their junior and helped me on every aspect.
It was a pleasure stay at HAL under the guidance of our division manager, who always
had time for me.
 OBJECTIVES OF TRAINING

This full training was oriented towards a big positive on the exposure to the works
carried out in an aviation industry and hence learnt a good deal from them. It was a
major step towards the practical things going outside our syllabus, which was like a
really different world and the environment we usually get in our college under the
umbrella of our university syllabus.

The base aim of the training was to know about how and in how many stages a
helicopter is designed . It was also towards the learning of how complicated a
helicopter’s working mechanism can be and what are the ways our engineers have
found to bring it of simplest mechanism, better safety and more efficiency. The
advancement in helicopter since it was first built in any Indian industry to presently
an armed ALH , LUH has been a great example of advancement and of premier
example set upon for me and all the upcoming engineers in future.
 INTRODUCTION ABOUT HAL

Brief History:
Hindustan Aeronautic Limited [HAL] a premier Aerospace Company in Asia is
engaged in design, development and manufacture of military and civil aircraft for over
75 years. The product range covers basic piston engine trainer aircraft to helicopters to
sophisticated state of the art deep penetration strike aircraft. Hindustan Aeronautic
Limited is an organization where integrated air borne weapons platforms are
conceived, developed, manufactured and serviced. It is one of the few corporate giants
in Asia whose capabilities span the entire range of activities from product conception to
after sale support. HAL is also involved in the manufacture and assembly of structures
required for India's space programs.

The Company which had its origin as the Hindustan Aircraft Company was
incorporated on 23 Dec 1940 at Bangalore by Shri Walchand Hirachand a farsighted
visionary in association with the Government of Mysore with an Authorized Capital of
Rs.4crores (Paid up capital Rs.40 lakhs) and with the aim of manufacturing aircraft in
India. In March 1941, the Government of India became one of the shareholders in the
Company holding 1/3 of its paid-up capital and subsequently took over its management
in 1942.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) came into existence on 1st October 1964. The
Company was formed by the merger of Hindustan Aircraft Limited with Aeronautics
India Limited and Aircraft Manufacturing Depot, Kanpur. HAL is a fully owned
Government of India undertaking under the administrative control of Ministry of
Defense, Department of Defense Production. H.A.L is the largest Public Sector Unit
(PSU) under the department of Defense production and is a Navaratna Company.
The Company takes up maintenance and overhaul services to cover the life cycle
requirement of all the old and new products. Presently, 13 types of aircraft/ helicopters
and 17 types of engines are being overhauled. In addition, facilities exist for repair/
overhaul of various accessories and avionics fitted on aircraft of Russian, Western and
Indigenous designs.

HAL is currently meeting the requirements of structures for aerospace launch vehicles
and satellites of ISRO through its dedicated Aerospace Division. Infrastructure has also
been set up to undertake completed assembly of the strap-on L-40 stage booster.
Structures for GSLV Mk III have been productionised. HAL has also contributed to Mars
mission by supplying riveted structural assemblies and welded propellant tankages for
the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C25).

Today, HAL has 19 Production Units and 9 Research and Design Centers in 7 locations
in India. The Company has impressive product track record-12 types of aircraft
manufactured with in-house R&D and 14 types produced under license. HAL has
manufactured 3550 aircraft (which includes 11 types designed indigenously), 3600
engines and overhauled over 8150 aircraft and 27300 engines.

HAL has been successful in numerous R & D programs developed for both Defense
and Civil Aviation sectors. HAL has made substantial progress in its current projects:

HAL has made substantial progress in its current projects:

● Dhruv- Advanced Light Helicopter – Weapon System Integration (ALH-WSI)

● Tejas - Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)

● Intermediate Jet Trainer (IJT)

● Light Combat Helicopter (LCH)

 ● Various military and civil upgrades.
Divisions of HAL
There are several divisions under Hindustan Aeronautical Limited. They are
as under:

BANGALORE COMPLEX

1. Aircraft Division Bangalore

2. Overhaul Division Bangalore
3. Aerospace Division Bangalore
4. Engine Division Bangalore
5. IGMT Division Bangalore
6. Aircraft Services Division
7. Foundry and Forge Division
8. Facilities Management Division

MIG COMPLEX:

1. Aircraft Division Nasik

2. Engine Division Koraput
3. Aircraft Overhaul Division Nasik
4. Sukhoi Engine Division Koraput

ACCESSORIES COMPLEX:

1. TAD-Kanpur Division
2. Accessories Division Lucknow
3. Avionics Division Hyderabad
4. Avionics Division Korwa

HELICOPTER COMPLEX:

1. Helicopter Division Bangalore

2. Helicopter MRO Division Bangalore
3. Barrack pore Division
4. CMD Division Bangalore
 Products of HAL

Fighter aircraft
1. HF-24 Marut: Mk1 and Mk1T
2. Tejas: Light Combat Aircraft
3. Su-30MKI: a derivative of the Sukhoi Su-27, co-developed with Sukhoi Corporation
4. FGFA: under joint development with Sukhoi Corporation
5. AMCA: India's indigenous stealth fighter (under development).
6. Mig series
7. Jaguar
8. MIRAGE 2000

Passenger Aircraft
1. Dornier 228
2. Indian Regional Jet

Trainer Aircraft
1. HT-2 - First Company design to enter production.
2. HPT-32 Deepak - Basic trainer in service for more than three decades.
3. HJT-16 Kiran — Mk1, Mk1A and Mk2 - Turbojet trainers scheduled to be replaced
with IJT like HJT-36 Sitara
4. HTT-34 - Turboprop version of HPT-32 Deepak
5. HTT-35 - Proposed replacement for HPT-32 basic trainer in early 1990s; not pursued

Helicopters
1. Dhruv (ALH)
2. Cheetah
3. Chetak
4. LUH
 METHODS AND TOOLING
Methods:

This department is basically a support department that is concerned with providing the
most feasible and the best applicable methods for manufacturing. Alternatively it can be
described as the design of the productive process in which a person is involved, the task
of the methods engineer is to decide where humans will be utilized in the process of
converting raw material to finished product. The terms operation analysis work design
and simplifying and corporate re-engineering frequency used interchangeability over
cost increase in reliability and productivity of methods of engineering.

Tooling:

The tooling department plays an important role in manufacturing of tools like jigs and
fixtures which are non-standardized in market. The tools are selected for the
requirement in manufacturing the project.

Tool design:

The tools are designed in specific orientation and demand. The utility of raw material is
selected for tool to ensure the durability, mass and defined properties. The tools design
department also tries to reverse engineer tools for reducing in house cost of spare parts
cutting tools harness are designed by this section.
 Sub division in Helicopter division

Helicopter MRO Division HAL:

I have done my internship training in Aircraft division HAL, Bengaluru.

To create a customer centric organization and provide focused impetus to the growing
MRO activities on rotary wing aircrafts which includes the indigenously developed
Advanced Light Helicopter “Dhruv” & New Projects a dedicated new Division called
Helicopter MRO Division was formed and is fully operational from December 2006 as a
Strategic Business Unit (SBU) of HAL with focus on robust customer support for the
delivered helicopters.

The Division provides service and lifetime support to the ALH and other rotary wing
products, In addition, the Division has detachments in various operating bases in India
and abroad. The Division also supports the Seaking program of Indian Navy by
providing support for repair and overhaul of Transmission systems of Seaking
helicopters.

The Division provides product support to the various customers such as Indian Army,
Indian Air Force, Indian Navy and Coast Guard. The Division has set up customer
support bases at the various operating bases of the customer located in India - Nasik,
Manasbal, Leh, Missamari, Mamun, Sulur, Bareilly, Sarasawa, Jodhpur, Kochi,
Porbandar and located in foreign countries -Ecuador, Male, Maldives, and Mauritius.

Currently, the Division has established full facility for undertaking maintenance and
servicing of medium light helicopters. With the existing infrastructure the division has
been successfully taking up scheduled and unscheduled servicing of ALH-DHRUV MK I,
MK II and MK III. Division has inbuilt capacity to handle 48 medium lift H/c per year.

In a major diversification initiative, the Division is embarking on additional activities

such as

● 90 weekly Inspection of Seaking Helicopters.

● Midlife up-grade of Seaking 42C Helicopters.
● Performance Based Logistics (PBL).
● Mini MRO Hub at different Zones.

TRANSMISSION ASSEMBLY:
The transmission system transfers power from the engine to the main rotor, tail rotor,
and other accessories. The main components of the transmission system are the main
rotor transmission, tail rotor drive system, clutch, and freewheeling unit. Helicopter
transmissions are normally lubricated and cooled with their own oil supply. A sight
gauge is provided to check the oil level. Some transmissions have chip detectors located
in the sump. These detectors are wired to warning lights located on the pilot’s
instrument panel that illuminate in the event of an metal Shavings are detected,
indicating an internal problem.

Main Rotor Transmission

The primary purpose of the main rotor transmission is to reduce engine output RPM to
optimum rotor RPM. Suppose the engine speed of a specific helicopter is 2,700 RPM.
Achieving a rotor speed of 450 RPM would require a 6 to 1 reduction. A 9 to 1 reduction
would mean the rotor would turn at 300 RPM. Most helicopters use a dual-needle
tachometer to show both engine and rotor RPM or a percentage of engine and rotor
RPM. The rotor RPM needle normally issued mostly during clutch engagement to
monitor rotor acceleration and in autorotation to maintain RPM within prescribed
limits. See figure 3-1. In helicopters with horizontally mounted engines, another
purpose of the main rotor transmission is to change the axis of rotation from the
horizontal axis of the engine to the vertical axis of the rotor shaft. The primary purpose
of the main rotor transmission is to reduce engine output RPM to optimum rotor
RPM.Suppose the engine speed of a specific helicopter is 2,700 RPM. Achieving a rotor
speed of450 RPM would require a 6 to 1 reduction. A 9 to 1 reduction would mean the
rotor would turn at 300 RPM. Most helicopters use a dual-needle tachometer to show
both engine and rotor RPM or a percentage of engine and rotor RPM. The rotor RPM
needle normally is used mostly during clutch engagement to monitor rotor acceleration
and in autorotation to maintain RPM within prescribed limits.
Rotary Wing:
The Rotary Wing R&D Centre at Bengaluru was established in 1970 as Helicopter Design
Bureau and later in 1998 it was renamed as “RWR&DC”. It was formed with the objective of
researching, innovating and creating designs for helicopters.

The Rotary Wing Research & Design Centre (RWR&DC) with modern facilities and state-of-
the-art technologies spearheads HAL’s thrust towards excellence in the field of helicopter
design.

Expertise in the design and development of Rotary Wing aircraft has been built up over the
last three decades by progressive induction of qualified designers, optimal design,
prototype development, ground testing and flight testing. The design Centre is engaged in
design, development, prototype manufacturing, ground & flight testing and Certification of
Civil and Military helicopters. The objective of the Centre is to research, innovate and
create designs for rotary wing aircraft to meet indigenous and global requirements.

The Centre holds recognition and approval from CEMILAC and DGCA for research, design
and manufacture of Military and Civil helicopters. Rotary Wing R&D Centre is AS 9100C
and ISO 14001:2004 certified organization.

The Centre has designed & developed indigenous helicopters, such as, the Advanced Light
Helicopter (Dhruv & Rudra), Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and Light Utility Helicopter
(LUH) for military customers. The ALH Dhruv is certified for Civil applications also.

Rotary Wing Research Design Center (RWRDC)

The Rotary Wing R&D Centre at Bengaluru was established in 1970 as Helicopter
Design Bureau and later in 1998 it was renamed as “RWR&DC”. It was formed with the
objective of researching, innovating and creating designs for helicopters.
The Rotary Wing Research & Design Centre (RWR&DC) with modern facilities and
state-of-the-art technologies spearheads HAL’s thrust towards excellence in the field of
helicopter design.

Rotary Wing Research Design Center (RWRDC) with modern facilities and state of the
art technologies , spearheads HAL’s Thrust toward excellence in the field of Helicopter
design. The objective of the centre is to research, innovate and create designs for rotary
wing aircraft to meet indigenous and global requirement. The centre is capable of
undertaking challenging rotary wing and allied design tasks for Civil and Military
applications. The Centre has also upgraded the cheetah and Chetek Helicopter to meet
the requirement of Military and Civil customers. The centre holds recognition and
approval for research, Design and manufacture of Civil and Military Helicopter.

The are many department in this centre like

 Aerodynamics
 Dynamics
 Stress
 Structural etc.

This Project has been done in the Dynamics Department of RWRDC.

Dynamics Department of RWR&DC:

Dynamics Department of RWR&DC deals with Helicopter rotor Dynamics, Structural Dynamics,
drive system dynamics. Vibration noise, aero elastic and aeromechanical instabilities, for
assessing the desired dynamics characteristics of helicopter in terms of speed, handling
qualities, low dynamics loads, vibration, noise and increased MTBO of all the component to
achieve high reliability. To realize these goals, extreme care will be taken by dynamics
department from conceptual stage in term of analyses , ground testing , whirl tower testing and
flight testing.

Anatomy of a Helicopter:
Sikorsky and a few of his contemporaries brought a technical rigor to the field that
finally made vertical flight safe , practical and reliable. As the flight –crazy Russian
continued to refine his helicopter design , he worked out the fundamental requirements
that any such machine needed to have to be successful .
Main Rotor Blade: The main rotor blade performs the same function as an airplane’s
wings providing lift as the blades rotates . Lift being one of the critical aerodynamic
forces that keep aircraft aloft. A pilot can influence lift by changing the rotor’s
revolutions per minute, its angle of attack , which refers to the angle of the rotoary wing
in relation to the oncoming wing.
Rotor mast: Also known as the rotor shaft , the mast connects the transmission to the
rotor assembly. The mast rotates the upper swash plate and the blades.
Tail rotor:The tail rotor , or anti-torque rotor is a smaller rotor mounted so that is
rotates vertically or nearly vertically, at the end of the tail of a traditional single-rotor
helicopter.
Fuselage: The fuselage holds the aircraft together and accommodates passengers and
cargo, as appropriate .
Cockpit: The cockpit , at the front end of the fuselage , is control and command centre ,
where the pilots sit and all the instrumentation is located.
Tail boom: The tail boom holds the tail rotor for stabilizing the aircraft.
Landing skids: The skids serve to stand the helicopter while on the ground.
Transmission: A helicopter’s transmission transmits power from the engine to the main
and tail rotors. The transmission’s main gearbox steps down the speed of the main rotor
so it doesn’t rotate as rapidly as the engine shaft. A second gearbox does the same for
the tail rotor, although the tail rotor, being smaller, rotates faster.
Engine: The engine generates power for the aircraft . Early helicopters relied on the
reciprocating gasoline engines, but modern helicopters use gas turbine engine like those
found in commercial airliners.
HOW HELICOPTER FLY:
During the flight , four forces act on the helicopter –LIFT, DRAG,THRUST and
WEIGHT. Wings of the helicopter create a lift force when they move through the air.
The main rotor wings move the air while the body stay still.
Principles of aerofoil:
Aerofoil: Any surface is designed to obtain reaction from the air through which it moves.
Angle of attack: Acute angle measured between the chord of an aerofoil and th relative
wind.
Blades: The blades of the helicopter are aerofoils with a very large aspect ratio. The
angle of incidence is as adjusted by means of the control from pilots. The main rotor of
the helicopter may have 2,3,4,5 or 6 blades, depending upon the design . The main rotor
blades are hinged to the rotor head in such a manner that they have limited movement
of up and down and also pitch.
Swash plate assembly: consists of 2 primary elements through which the rotor mass
passes.
1. Disc linked to the cyclic path control which is capable of
tilting in any direction but doesn’t rotate as rotor rotates:
this is called “stationary star”.
2. This is attached by a bearing surface to the second disc
and is called “rotating star”.

Collective control: When pilot rises the collective control the collective control will raise
the entire swash plate assembly as a unit. This affects the blade by changing the pitch of
all the blades simultaneously. This causes to increase the angle of attack and give more
lift.
Cyclic control: It will push one side of the swash plate assembly up or down. This has
meet to the rotor head system, because the cyclic controls the angle of the main rotor by
angling the rotor head to which all the blades are attached. This causes the helicopter to
move left ,right , forward or backward.

Indigenous Helicopters
The helicopters designed and developed by RWR&DC are as follows:
ALH Dhruv

The Advanced Light Helicopter (“ALH”) Dhruv is a twin engined, new generation
multi-role, multi-mission, all weather helicopter in the 5.5 tonne weight category. It
is designed to meet the requirements of both military and civil operators and can
carry out transport, search and rescue operations, and disaster relief operations.
Following are the variants of Dhruv:
● Mk I: Initial configuration with conventional cockpit, electro mechanical
gauges and turbo-shaft engines.
● Mk II: The conventional cockpit replaced with a glass cockpit consisting of 4
Multi-Function Displays.
● Mk III: An improved version equipped with a glass cockpit and higher
powered engines, along with mission systems such as Electro Optic Pod,
Helmet Pointing System, Electronic Warfare Suite, IR suppressor & Engine
Air Particle Separator.
● Mk IV: Weaponised platform designed for armed roles, called the "Rudra".

ALH Mk IV Rudra
The ALH Mk IV Rudra is a weaponised version and is equipped with an integrated
architecture display system with multi-function displays, four rocket pods or two air-
to-air missile launchers as well as nose-mounted turret gun. Rudra is certified in the
year 2013.

Light Combat Helicopter (LCH)

The Light Combat Helicopter ("LCH") is designed to meet the Indian Air Force’s and
Indian Army's requirement of a dedicated light helicopter for combat operations.
The LCH has a narrow fuselage, with the pilot and co-pilot/gunner set up in tandem
configuration and incorporates a number of stealth features, armour protection,
night attack capability and crashworthy landing gear for better survivability. The
helicopter has the capability to carry weapons such as Turret Gun, Rocket, Air-to-Air
Missile, Air-to-Ground Missile, Bombs etc.. LCH is certified and Operational
Clearance accorded in August 2017.
Light Utility Helicopter (LUH)
The LUH is a single engine, 3-tonne helicopter with design features to serve as a
reconnaissance helicopter with high end technology and to meet the specific high
altitude requirements of Indian Armed Forces.
Cheetah
The Cheetah helicopter is the re-engined version of Cheetah helicopter which is
upgraded and fitted with a fuel efficient engine, TM 333-2M2 for enhanced
performance at high altitude. It has been certified in 2009.

Equipment with modern infrastructure & facilities

The Division is equipped with modern infrastructure & facilities including dedicated
transmission lines, LRU Labs, Assembly Hangars and test Centre.

With a view to reduce the turnaround time and the logistics, the Division during 2009-
10 took up servicing of helicopters at base. Accordingly, a multifunction skilled team
from the Division along with the customer carried out servicing as well as trains the
customer technicians to undertake servicing.

Helicopter MRO Division is one of the best in class customer centric organization for
Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul of Rotary wing aircrafts / rotables / LRUs in the
country.
 Reference

1. www.hal-india.com

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindustan_Aeronautics_Limited

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAE_Systems_Hawk

4. http://aermech.in/hal-hawk-mk-132-bae-hawkadvanced-jet-trainer-
ajt-indian-armed-forces/

5. http://www.experimentalaircraft.info/articles/aircraft-construction