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Sunglide
I would like to see a new class in soaring competition
in the future. I am thinking of a class where one is allowed to utilize electro-solar energy beside the usual ways to generate lift. As things goes today we use slopes, waves and thermals to keep us flying and that governs the way our glider are built and the way our competitions are constructed. I think it is time to think new and move ahead. If FAI would declare a competition for, lets say, the summer of 2008 in witch glider equipped with solar panels and electric motors could race it might promote the industry to develop new machines. I am just a layman, not an engineer, so please take this as my humble vision of things to come. I really don’t know if this is possible but I believe it is. Imagine a modern 18 meter glider with solar panels on all available surfaces and a fixed electric motor in the nose or on the fin. Just like a modern electric model glider. The power from the solar panels would probably not be sufficient to make the glider climb but well to enormously extend the gliders effective glide ratio. When you are thermaling under a cloud the solar panels would probably not deliver very much power and so the motor would just spin along, neither puling nor inducing drag. When you leave the cloud to speed on to the next thermal the panels will be exposed to the sun and the motor would start to pull. There would be no need to fold the propeller blades and no need to fold the motor in to the fuselage since the motor at all times would produce thrust to out weight the induced drag. Maybe it is possible to make a system like this to function as a generator in a strong thermal. If you carry batteries you might be able to charge them by letting the motor windmill while you climb and then use that energy in the final run. Of course batteries could also extend your glide range extensively in the same way as a turbo if you screw up far from home. I don’t think it would be a big problem to keep track of how much power that is gained via the solar panels and how much power that is taken from the batteries if that would be an issue with the rules of a competition. A big competition could maybe promote the industry to start thinking and developing and gliding as a whole would take a step further. Finally, I apologise for my English. It is not my mother languish. |
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