Got a work project

[Pete M]

Got a work project - Inflatable wing

What is the inflatable tube on the kite surfer kites made from? is there some special sealent?

Any idea who makes the fabric? Bainbridge?

 

[tyler]

The "frame" of a kite is made of a bunch of poly tubes inside of tubes that are made of a pretty heavy weight spinn cloth.

Same concept as a tube tire. I demand 5% royalties.

The fabric itself is not what contains the air, it just limits how much the tube can expand.

 

[tprice]

At USNA many years ago we made an inflatable helicopter blade (nutty prof research). Airfoil shape was formed by the "z" axis stitching through a airfoil shaped, foam filled dacron sock and then the foam was melted away. It was kept rigid by being inflated and the huge centrifugal forces (and they put a weight on the end). Of course, when they tried it in the rotor test cell, the dacron blade ripped and the weight almost went through the wall!

 

[kanaka]

Pete,

PM Bill Hansen (Hansen Aerosports) and he'll fill you in. He's one of the leading kite designers.

k

 

[Pete M]

thx K

we have had a prototype made that flys - but it's made out of some kind of rubbery dirigible material

the next task is to see if we can make it as foldable (small folded package), and as light weight as possible

 

[Harry Pattison]

thx K
we have had a prototype made that flys - but it's made out of some kind of rubbery dirigible material

the next task is to see if we can make it as foldable (small folded package), and as light weight as possible

Pete,

We did some inflatable sails a few years ago for a guy out of a light dacron with mylar on one side. Dimension sailcloth makes cloth like that and Bainbridge has several styles of nylon with a waterproof coating on one side.

 

[Pete M]

thx Harry

 

[aurichor]

At USNA many years ago we made an inflatable helicopter blade (nutty prof research). Airfoil shape was formed by the "z" axis stitching through a airfoil shaped, foam filled dacron sock and then the foam was melted away. It was kept rigid by being inflated and the huge centrifugal forces (and they put a weight on the end). Of course, when they tried it in the rotor test cell, the dacron blade ripped and the weight almost went through the wall!

Sometime the people around here scare me :blink:

would it work with kevlar?

 

[coreymon]

ckeck out this yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Inflatodesign/

it is all about leading edge inflatable kites and they know exactly how to make the bladers

 

[Hanne]

Pete, you might want to contact Peter Heppel Link. He's done some interesting work on inflatable structures.

Hannes

 

[spirit28]

PM Weyalan - he's right into this sort of stuff....