Posted on 12/17/2021 11:51:10 AM PST by Red Badger
Airseas has fitted its first automated sail to an Airbus-chartered cargo ship, promising impressive efficiency and emissions gainsAirseas VIEW 3 IMAGES
French company Airseas has installed its first half-size automated Seawing kite to a cargo ship chartered by Airbus, and will commence six months of trials in January. The full-size kite is estimated to save up to 20 percent of fuel burn and emissions.
The US$30-million, 154-meter (505-ft) Ville de Bordeaux, owned and operated by Louis Dreyfus, is currently on a long-term lease to Airbus, which uses it to move large aircraft structures between its distributed manufacturing plants around Europe and its final assembly plant in Toulouse.
Now, it's been fitted with a 500-square-meter (5,400-sq-ft) parafoil kite, plus all the deck and bridge equipment required to run the Seawing system. The Seawing deploys automatically, first emerging from storage on a trolley, then raising up from the deck on a mast to catch the wind, and finally being released on a long cable to grab the steady, strong winds over about 200 m (656 ft) above sea level.
At this point, it begins a figure-eight trajectory at a speed over 100 km/h (62 mph), monitored and controlled by an automated system running on the ship that's programmed to place the kite for maximum traction power. The Seawing computers also interface with the ship's navigation systems, monitoring forward wind conditions and re-routing the ship to take the most efficient path possible without affecting its arrival time.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
Makes you wonder how ships sailed prior to cotton.......................
Lol... Hand slaps forehead... Why not? Well they are...
Yep... and soon folks will be choosing a fence jumping Missouri Mule instead of a micromanaged car... lol
lol
That 100 tons of pull would really move my 15’ runabout!
bttt!!
It is actually a good idea with good physics. I have built rotor models that drove generators very efficiently.
That picture and article can almost be from The Babylon Bee. Great if it works out. 20% is a good savings.
:) I have had to do it too. I always carried a tarp and rigging lines to do that if I needed to.
Might have to wait for the wind to change direction, and ride it while it is right, but eventually you can get there. :)
You now have 7 subscribers....a 16.67% increase...ought to get those Utube bucks.
;>)
Goat girl still making goat milk soap?
Was well received gift.
thatsa big kite!! In my vid that is a 19mtr kite. that large for a 12mph wind with a 160lb human. 5400sqft works out to a 501mtr kite!! lol... quite impractical in reality!
Skins... Papyrus... Bamboo... :)
lol
That stuff’s in the genes. I had a 22 foot cruiser and then years later found out my great great uncle was a captain in the late 1800s. I doubt his ship had as many sails as that pic though. Still probably had more than mine and he couldn’t tack like a modern sailboat and had to use the trade winds.
Dad and his uncle had motors as they were lobstermen. Still out out he water though. They both went out alone in their own boats and my dad could hardly tread water.
?? ...ya lost me! Goat girl??
That’s very cool. Let the air pull you across the ocean. What a concept.
Oars.................
Real................................
In a hurrricane it`ll do 250 knots.
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