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Tarp Flying
Tall Ship Inspired Kite Rigs (TarpKite "Square Sail" Concept Video)
A commodity tarp is an large untailored
rectangle of fabric. Just add nylon clothesline and fly, if you know how.
This tarpkite concept experiment used a single sheet of paper with no
folds, just rigged as a simple double curvature minimal surface. The key
is a crosswind anchoring geometry, and Shazzam, it flies stablely at a
fairly high angle (~60 degrees).
It looks like an unbeatably optimal tarp rigging method, as a "flying
pixel" for large arrays. Aviation for $5 a pound, just as Fort requested,
a personal wind-powered aircraft for about $100, Dave Culp's one tarp AWE
Village...
Classic Tall Ships took a divide and conquer approach to sail power,
aggregating bunches of cheap simple square sails on a framework, with a
few tri-sails thrown in. Puny humans could then flexibly manage clouds of
sail in the widest range of conditions. This worked so well that only
recently have old Flying Clipper ocean passage records been falling.
A Kite Sailing version of a Tall Ship is to arch a rope loadpath network
between buddy boats, to hank numbers of square sails, gennakers, etc.
onto; nothing the scurvy sailors of old or a crackerjack crew of Kiwis
could not make look easy. A rope loadpath megakite structure can be made
by anyone, with just a knife and a few special knots. KiteShip's OL
geometry is a good approximation of what to aim for. Pilot-kites are used
for launching and "luff-proofing". Glorified tarps can serve as COTS
square sails in the sky.
As for what the best "square sail" kite-rigging method might be, this
TarpKite concept experiment used a single sheet of paper, with no folds,
just crudely bridled to create a simple double curvature minimal surface.
The key is a crosswind anchoring geometry, and Shazzam, it flies stably at
a fairly high angle (~60 degrees):
http://youtu.be/sfK3Nh5qqHE
Thanks to
Joe for stitching and posting the clip-
Upcoming tests will be loadpath-network aggregated tarps, for megascaling...
coolIP
(Creative-Commons Share-Alike Non-Commercial)
CoolIP*
~Dave Santos 16Feb2012
AWES5638 and
AYRS2555
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