System and method of measuring and monitoring torque in a rotorcraft drive system

摘要

A method of optimizing an operation of a rotorcraft (101) includes measuring actual usage of the tail rotor drive shaft (119) during operation of the rotorcraft (101), the actual usage including at least a torque measurement. The method further includes a step of adjusting a life of the tail rotor drive shaft (119) based upon the measuring of the actual usage. Another method of the present disclosure includes determining a main rotor mast torque by measuring a tail rotor drive shaft torque and deriving a main rotor mast torque by considering the measured tail rotor drive shaft torque and a total torque output of an engine. A system of the present disclosure is configured for determining the main rotor mast torque in part by measuring the tail rotor torque.