Lifting Kite Design Limits
Published: 01 Jan 2024
Hello Shane,I don't know if anyone here has replied to you yet- I've been in the US- coincidentally flying at Doug Hagaman's old stamping ground of Lincoln City.Anyway, you raise some questions but I think I'll first answer the ones you didn't ask!The internal mechanism by which single line kites "know" where up is, is the pendulum created by their centre of pressure being above their centre of gravity. As line angles approaches 90degrees relative to the horizontal, this mechanism rapidly ceases...
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Address for the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar
Published: 14 Jan 2011
Forty five years ago I was a mechanical engineering student, intending, on graduation, to change the world for the better in some significant but as yet undetermined way.Just like all of you are now. Then I was seduced by kites. Actually, I'd been keen on kites since a very young age- some of my earliest memories are about making and flying kites. My mother showed me how to make paste from flour and water and indulgently allowed me to make a big mess with bubbling pots, paper scr...
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Luffing Definition
Published: 02 Dec 2010
"Luffing" is a specialist word in English that came originally from sailing and is still perhaps most commonly used in this context.The "luff" is the part of a sail, closest to the mast.When a yacht turns through the wind from one tack to it's opposite, there will be a period when the sail is 'head to wind' and flaps. This being a critical time for the manouever, sailors watch the "luff" of the sail particularly closely as it gives the first and best indication as to how things a...
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Making Ram Air Inflated Single Line Kites: Principles and Practical Suggestions.
Published: 02 Jul 2009
Design considerations are covered more fully in "Some suggestions for designing ram air inflated single line kites" and stability is covered separately in "Why kites (don't) fly" and etc). 1. Shape selection. Some shapes are not suitable for ram air inflated construction; insects with long thin feelers projecting forward for example.. Thin fla...
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The Hunting of the Slarc
Published: 16 Aug 2006
Slarc 6, Single Line Arc, a Traction Kiting initiative. It seems likely to me that in the future, traction kites will use radio control rather than multiple lines for steering and to set the amount of pull required. A driving reason for this is that RC kites require only a single line.This greatly reduces the chance of line tangles and snags which can be very dangerous for kite sports...
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Address for University of Buffalo
Published: 11 Oct 2005
40 years ago I was an engineering student-Just like all of you now. But I really just wanted to be an inventor- had so many ideas for things to make. I had a go at some of these; In the '70's, a portable sawmilling system that uses just one relatively small diameter circular saw blade- rotating it laterally by 90degrees at the end of each pass thru the log so as to cut out planks. Previous systems had used two blades arranged at 90degrees to each other that cut in one ...
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Principles of Kite Making
Published: 02 Dec 2004
Some Principles for Single Line Kite Making. 1. Lateral symmetry is very important. Lateral assymetry will always cause flying problems but some kite styles are more sensitive than others. Generally, low performance kites and kites with tails wont be overly sensitive (eg maxi octopusses), high performance kites (eg Rays) and kit...
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Team NZ Kite Report
Published: 02 Dec 2003
Kites for AC class yachts. There's no doubt that in any open rule class, kites(that is, the type that fly), can pull yachts downwind faster than will ever be possible with conventional spinnakers or gennakers.When tethered to an immoveable object, a kite's maximum speed through the air is equal (near enough) to the kite's lift to drag ratio times the true wind speed. When it is tethered to a yacht going straight downwind, the kite's max. speed is the kite's L/D times the difference be...
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Traction Kite Testing and Aerodynamics, Justin Stevenson, 2003
Published: 01 Dec 2003
A Traction kite is a controllable high performance kite used to pull other objects in a desired direction. In recent years Traction kites have been used for Kite Surfing and Kite Buggying, generating significant sales revenue.
Determining Kite L/D
Published: 02 Dec 2002
SummaryThe following report outlines a method for the testing of kites Lift to Drag ratio. To perform the test the flyer simple has to fly the kite in a horizontal circle while walking directly away from the kite. The Lift to Drag ratio is effectively the ratio of the Line length to the circle radius walked. The method requires some adjustment due to mass effects and line drag. It also requires the flyer to walk directly away from the kite and in the case of four line kites for the back line ten...
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Iceberg Kites
Published: 02 Dec 2002
Hello Geoff,I've found this more difficult to write than I expected- because Pete has just raised the valid question that if we are going to use a train of NASA wing style kites, HOW are we going to train them? Being single skin multi-bridle kites it's not practicable to just take the 2 flying lines past each kite to the next one- because the natural spacing between the lines when the kites are flying will be less than the width of the kite. There are various answers:One solutio...
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Some Practical Suggestions for Designing and Making Ram Air Single Line Kites.
Published: 02 Jun 2001
Ram air (soft) kites are those built by the Jalbert principle of using pressure captured from flow stagnation points to inflate the kite's internal spaces and using these as the kite's structural elements. In their pure form they use no other framing or battens and have the great virtues of easy packing and no rigid parts that can cause injury to users or innocent bystanders. Some single line soft kites are built purely for efficiency and stability with no concessions to other aestheti...
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