METHOD OF OPTIMIZING THE SPECIFIC FUEL CONSUMPTION OF A TWIN ENGINE HELICOPTER AND TWIN ENGINE ARCHITECTURE WITH CONTROL SYSTEM FOR IMPLEMENTING IT

摘要

A method and architecture to reduce specific fuel consumption of a twin-engine helicopter without compromising safety conditions regarding minimum amount of power to be supplied, to provide reliable in-flight restarts. The architecture includes two turbine engines each including a gas generator and with a free turbine. Each gas generator includes an active drive mechanism keeping the gas generator rotating with a combustion chamber inactive, and an emergency assistance device including a near-instantaneous firing mechanism and mechanical mechanism for accelerating the gas generator. A control system controls the drive mechanism and emergency assistance devices for the gas generators according to the conditions and phases of flight of the helicopter following a mission profile logged beforehand in a memory of the system.