Swashplate

The working principle is similar to crankshaft, Scotch yoke, or wobble, nutator, and Z-crank drives in engine designs.

The greater the disk's angle to the shaft, the more pronounced is this apparent linear motion.

[4] A common example of a swashplate application in a fluid pump is the compressor of a present-day automobile air conditioning system.

By varying the angle of the swashplate, the pistons' stroke (and, therefore, the compressor's cooling capacity) can be dynamically adjusted.

A helicopter swashplate is a pair of plates, one rotating and one fixed, that are centered on the main rotor shaft.

Swashplate animation. The rotating shaft and plate are shown in silver. The fixed plate is shown in gold and six shafts each take a reciprocating motion from points on the gold plate. The shafts might be connected to pistons in cylinders. Note the power may be coming from the shaft to drive the pistons as in a pump, or from the pistons to drive the shaft rotation as in an engine