KGARS - Kiting Glider Automatic Relase System

Le mercredi 20 mai 2020 13:30:05 UTC+2, Sci Fi a écritÂ*:

It is true that increasing tow rope angle precedes a towplane upset, it
is
=
not exclusive to upsets. That is why I suggested putting a load cell on
the=
tow release to measure the force on the tow rope which is a better
indicat=
or of a kiting event.

Tom

Tom, if you made the load cell rupture when it sensed an overload would be
good... Don't we have them now.. they are called Weak-Links. All you
need to do is correctly calculate the maximum tension that you could allow.


As a starting point.. A 350kg Glider with a 35:1 L/D ratio just requires
10kg of pull to keep it flying. So factor in a safety margin to allow for
turbulence, of say 10x, and what you need is a 150kg Weak-Link. This is
much less than the lowest (White.) Link made so far. But as you know
those links are designed for Winch (Kiting.) Launches. Our Link needs to
be made for safe aero-tow.

The weakest one from Tost is 300 kg (green) and is usually used in Europe for aerotow.
Anything lower would be less then the static thrust of the towplane. That would be the safest configuration of all, beacause you wouldn't even leave the ground.