Mini-Winch for FES

At 17:06 04 March 2020, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 4, 2020 at 12:38:57 AM UTC-5, Paul
Remde wrote:
Hi,
=20
This is just a thought... =20
=20
I=E2=80=99ve recently been extremely interested in
the FES (Front
Electri=
c Sustainer) sailplanes. They are becoming quite popular.
Even very
high-=
performance racing sailplanes like the Ventus 3 are being
sold with FES
sys=
tems installed.
=20
I am the U.S. dealer for DG/LS and they offer the LS8e
neo with FES and
t=
he new DG-1001e neo with FES prototype will fly very
soon. It will be the
=
first 2-seat sailplane with FES. I would love to trade my
DG-1000S in for
=
a DG-1001e neo with FES, but so far my DG-1000S co-
owners aren't ready for
=
that upgrade.
=20
I'm not very experienced with winches and certainly not
an expert on
such=
matters, but I think there may be a nice market for a very
small electric
=
winch designed to get an FES-equipped sailplane just up to
100 feet =E2=80=
=93 high enough to use the FES to climb to the first
thermal. Even
self-la=
unch capable FES sailplanes would benefit from a small
winch because they
w=
ould save much more of the sailplane's battery for use later
in the flight
=
- since the initial takeoff roll requires a lot of power.
=20
You can see an interesting video showing an FES-
equipped sailplane
taking=
an autotow to about 100 feet he=20
https://youtu.be/pTeNKM2cXQk=20
=20
I would think that an electric winch could get a glider to
100 feet
quite=
easily and be quite small and relatively inexpensive. The
rope needed
wou=
ld be much less, and the drum could be much smaller
=E2=80=93 I imagine.
=20
A "level ground bungee launch" to 100 feet would be
another interesting
o=
ption. But I would think that would have risks from by the
bungee
snapping=
or coming loose and hurting someone.=20
=20
Any thoughts...? I'm just dreaming about the future of
gliding...
=20
Best Regards,
=20
Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.

Stupid question: since FES (Front Electric Sustainer)
sailplanes have a
pro=
peller in the front, with very little ground clearance, how
would you
attac=
h a tow rope without interfering with the propeller?
Perhaps you mean a
wi=
nch launch with the propeller stowed, turning on the FES
after releasing
fr=
om the rope. Seems like doing that at 100 feet is not a
great idea, even
t=
hough FES startup is a lot simpler and quicker than with
other sailplane
mo=
tor arrangements. So at the least you'd want to go to 300
feet or so -
hig=
h enough to try and start the FES, and land safely if that
does not work.

And as Herb said, for a good acceleration at the start,
you'd still need a
=
lot of power (at least 100 KW), nothing "mini" about that.

Yeah I'd like to hear more about (full-size) electric winches
in
developmen=
t. With the progress being made on electric cars (and
trucks) and their
ba=
tteries that seems like the future of winches.

Really? You think "progress being made on electric cars and
their batteries"? Sure there are a lot of them out there but
the battery technology they use has been around for years.
Lots of fancy batteries in development labs and in
Universities but none in any commercially available vehicle.