FI94613B - Wing sail system - Google Patents

Description

- 94613

WINGS SAILING SYSTEM - VINGSEGELSYSTEM

The present invention relates to a hydrofoil system comprising a plurality of thrust vanes, each comprising a vertical front carrier profile and a vertical rear carrier profile, wherein the leading edge of the rear carrier profile is positioned close to the rear edge of the front carrier profile. profile is flush with the front bearing profile, at different angles on both sides, and wherein the simultaneous corresponding angular displacements of at least two rear bearing profiles from their same level position are different.

The hydrofoil profile is installed and used in a slightly different way than the more well-known aircraft wing; it is mounted tendon vertically, i.e. vertically or almost vertically, the cutting plane of the bearing profile being substantially horizontal, and since the vehicle to which the wing is attached is supported by land or water, the bearing profile is used to supply or increase thrust, which for practical reasons must be $ 25 for directions. The wing sail system according to the invention is in principle self-positioning or self-trimming. Such a hydrofoil system comprises a plurality of bearing profiles, hereinafter referred to as a sail group, having at least one propeller-responsive propeller and rotating freely about a vertical axis so that it can come at different angles depending on wind and desired direction of travel, and at least one additional propeller profile (usually a rear support surface profile) mounted on a boom or booms rigidly attached to the thruster and used to trim the thruster as will be explained later.

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The multi-element structure of the thrust sail comprises a front top profile element and a stern surface profile element located close to the front element, the rear element being laterally pivotable with respect to the front element so that the sail enters an asymmetrical position to the right or left. The rear element can be locked in the push position and released so that it returns to a position parallel to the front element or to the mirror image position. Generally, the axis of rotation of the sail group passes through the front element or, in the case where the sail group has a multi-level structure consisting of several adjacent propeller sails, through the central symmetry plane of the front elements, and the rear element pivots independently of the main pivot axis. When the bearing profiles are all in line, a group of 15 sails rotates like a weather vane to the minimum resistance position. If the push-wing is then brought into push mode by turning and locking the rear element, the wind generates torque about the main axis. However, the additional bearing surface profile can also be rotated independently, and although it is considerably smaller, it is able - due to its distance from the main axis - to generate considerable torque. Thus, by selecting the angular deviation of the additional bearing surface profile (i.e., selecting its torque relative to the thrust blade torque around the main axis by a certain angular deviation of the thrust blade), again in relation to the wind at its original value.

The direction of travel of a vehicle relative to the prevailing wind direction can be classified into three main groups: upwind, crosswind, and away from the wind or downwind. For each of these 35 groups, a different sail position .. relative to the wind is recommended. The best sail positions between the main groups i 3 94613 are achieved by the intermediate shapes of the main group positions explained below.

If the vehicle is driven upwind, the sail group is generally adapted to provide the best possible aerodynamic power, commonly referred to as the lift / pull ratio; this is the ratio of the components of the output force perpendicular to the wind and the components parallel to the wind. If the direction is transverse to the wind, the sail group is adapted to produce the maximum available force without stalling, and if driven in a downwind direction, the downwind component is maximized, intentionally enabling stalling if it is found to be more efficient.

This invention is particularly directed to multi-level sail groups and configurations that allow full stagnation to be maintained when driving downwind. During stalling, the airflow over the bearing profiles is rotating and turbulent so that the wind may run out of the additional rear bearing surface, making it less efficient in controlling and trimming the thrust blades in the stalling mode. There may also be an additional torque that resists the occurrence of full settling caused by the displacement of the pressure center of the thrust vane backward from the main axis of rotation. We have already proposed a system in which eccentric backing surface profiles are arranged, which initially have different angles to each other while their rear edges are inclined inwards towards the central plane of symmetry. These different output angles are maintained Aiming rear portion 30 so that the side thrust of the wind vane is less than the lower thrust precipitated wind vane, with the result that the lower blade of the wind deeper deposition tends to keep the sail group stall. However, it is not always desirable for there to be angular differences in the symmetrical position, or it may be more advantageous to vary the degree of difference as the direction of the rear changes.

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According to the invention, there is provided a hydrofoil system, characterized in that according to claim 1, the system comprises a device for adjusting at least two of the tailgate profiles for greater and lesser turning when moving at different angles from a parallel position, respectively.

Other embodiments of the invention are set out in the dependent claims.

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In the following, the invention will be explained by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Figure 1 schematically shows a plan view of one planar group of sails;

Figure 2 shows a schematic perspective view of a portion of your push ipi system; Fig. 3 shows a schematic plan view of two-plane thrust vanes;

Figure 4 shows an embodiment of the invention of a two-plane push blade in a symmetrical position; 25

Fig. 5 shows the push vanes of Fig. 4 in a different position with respect to the angle to provide a push to the right of the wind.

Figure 1 schematically shows the main parts of a single-plane wing group. The main pushing vane consists of a front element 1 and a rear element (called a flap) 2. The flap 2 pivots from side to side about an articulation shaft 3 located inside the front part 1, which flap is connected to the articulation shaft 3 by a plurality of hinge arms 4, shown in more detail in Fig. 2. The articulated shaft 3 does not have to be a continuous shaft. It may comprise a plurality of shafts in the same line 5 to 94613 connected by respective hinge arms 4. Preferably a small wing (not shown) is provided which forms an extension of the rear edge of the front element 1 when the rear part 2 is turned away from the line of the front element 1. Such a wing is the subject of U.S. Patents 4,467,741 and 4,563,970.

The rear support profile 11 is pivotally mounted around the shaft 5 on booms 6 generally towards the push vanes or their upper or lower part, which are rigidly connected to the front element 10. Hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders 7, 8 or other movement mechanisms are arranged to rotate the flap 2 and tail their joints 3 and 5 around. These fluid cylinders or other mechanisms may conventionally be arranged on booms 6, which also form an end plate system. The counterweight 9 for the tail is also arranged so that the sail group is in balance with respect to the axis 10 around which the sail group is freely rotatable. In order to dynamically balance the sail group, the counterweight is placed approximately halfway up the height of the front element, although a certain inertia advantage can be achieved by placing the counterweight slightly below half height. The multilevel sail array comprises the same elements as shown and explained with reference to Figure 1, but has a plurality of pusher groups, each with a front element 25 1 and a flap 2. A simple additional stern surface profile is still generally used, although several stub profiles may be used. If the multilevel sail group has an uneven number of thrust vanes, the central structure is similar to that in Fig. 1, so that the main axis 10 is parallel to the central front portion 30. When the thrust vanes are even, the main shaft 10 is located midway between the innermost fronts. The thrust vanes of a multilevel sail group can be connected by controlling one flap (usually the flap in the center wing of an uneven multilevel solution) as a master and the other as 35 slaves, or alternatively each flap can be used .. so that either the physical engagement or the adjustment mechanism moves the flap in harmony.

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Figure 3 illustrates a two-plane array of push vanes, each push wing comprising a front element 1 and a rear flap element 2. The flaps 2 are each pivotable with respect to an axis 3 located on the front member of the respective front elements 5, so that each flap can be pivoted laterally on either side. The clearance of the front element is preferably fixed and is maintained by parts connecting the two front elements at intervals in the vertical direction, so that the front elements remain parallel to each other.

In known systems, the flaps are kept parallel to each other so that the angular movement of each flap relative to its front element is the same, or there is an adult angular difference at the rear edge of the flap which is maintained during the change of direction so that the downwind wing (outside the arc) is deeper.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figures 4 and 5, the flaps are connected so that they are parallel in a central, non-inverted position, but realize varying degrees of angular deviation when they are oriented so that the flap below the wind is at a greater angle. Figure 4 shows a parallel configuration in which the front carrier pin 25 profiles are rigidly and parallel to each other and the distance between the flaps 2 is maintained parallel and flush with the front carrier surface profiles by a rod 14 pivotally connected at 15 and 16 to the flaps. The arms 16 are directed inwards towards the symmetry plane of the sail group so that the length of the rod 14 is less than the distance between the respective tension levels of the wings.

Figure 5 shows the flaps facing the wind (shown by an arrow). The downwind flap 2a is pivoted by an angle α of 35, but the windward flap 2b is pivoted. now by a smaller angle fi due to the non-parallel-shaped connection formed between the articulated shafts 3 of the flaps 3 and the joints 15 of the arms. The exact angular difference between the angles α and S depends on the geometry of the rectangle connecting the articulated shafts 3 and the articulated joints 15, and the length of the arms 16 and the rod 14 is selected depending on the desired angular difference with the flaps 5 fully rotated. It is clear that when the flaps are not fully rotated, the angular difference is between the zero deviation, i.e. the symmetrical position (which is the zero angular difference in Figure 5), and the fully rotated position (usually on the order of 2 ° per wing with a deviation of 40 °).

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The non-parallel coupling principle shown in connection with Figures 4 and 5 can be utilized in conjunction with a non-inverted flap group with an initial angle difference. In that case, the initial angular difference plus the joint geometry determine the 15 final angular differences in the flap in the fully rotated position. The initial angle difference together with the non-parallel coupling not only requires the converging rear edges of the flap, but can be chosen in which in the zero deviation situation (symmetrical position) the rear edges of the flaps are dispersed.

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In a similar embodiment for a three-blade system, the connections are arranged so that in the fully rotated position the angles are 38 °, 40 ° and 42 ° or vice versa. In configurations with four or more blades, the blade pairs may have different non-parallel connections to maintain downwind propagation with deeper stagnation.

The front bearing surface profiles are shown separately from the tendons in parallel, but it is clear that it is possible to deviate from the parallelism so that the tendon levels of the front bearing surface profiles are dispersed or converging compared to the parallel arrangement. In addition, pivot control arrangements can be used on the push vanes that are not rotated by the 35 additional or rear bearing profile.

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Claims (6)

A wing sail system comprising, in part, several driving wings, each consisting of a vertical cutter vane (1) and a vertical rear wing (2), the front edge of the rear wing being located adjacent the rear edge of the rear wing, and a device for mounting the rear wing such that from an exit position where it has the same direction and is in the same plane as the front wing about a vertical shaft (3) can be rotated to eat both sides at different angles and where at least two rear wing's simultaneous angular projections from the exit position are different, characterized in that the system comprises a device through which at least two rear wing angles can be set to greater or lesser value as they are rotated from the starting position. 15 The wing sealing system according to claim 1, characterized in that the adjusting device is a mechanical link (14,15,16) which is not of parallelogram type. The wing sealing system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the mechanical link comprises parts (16) which are rigidly fixed in each rear wing and extend towards each other, and a rigid rod (14) which is pivoted in each. part. 25 Wing sailing system according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the system comprises two driving wings. A wing sailing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the system comprises at least three driving wings. The wing sealing system according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the adjusting device functions such that the difference in angular impact between the rear wings increases as they are rotated from the starting position, the rear wing on the pilot side being rotated less. »» • ·