Sizing of a New SAR Helicopter for a Future HEMS Environment

Abstract

In the last years the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has developed an integrated design environment for rotorcraft with the aim to deal with a variety of different configurations. This paper presents the first design study which has been a future SAR rotorcraft related to DLR’s Guiding Concept 4 Rescue Helicopter 2030. In the run-up of the engineering task a stakeholder analysis has been conducted covering the legal, demographic, medical and operational boundaries of current and future primary rescue operations. The necessary theory for the integrated design environment IRIS is demonstrated in order to derive the requirements from the previous analysis. The conceptual design study features a complex sizing approach including mission performance computation in connection with sophisticated engine modelling. The converged configuration shows an apparent increase in maximum take-off mass that agrees very well with the actual analysis of HEMS-operators. Off-design conditions and propulsion setup, such as a controlled shut down of one engine during specific mission segments, are discussed. The results were exchanged with the ADAC along the ADAC/DLR cooperation on HEMS operations.