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Automated, Mouldless Composite Wing Sail for Yacht
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Partners(s): Artemis Technologies, United Kingdom - Curve Works, Netherlands.
Rondal, Curve Works and Artemis Technologies present a fully customizable, automated, composite solid wing sail assembled from load bearing carbon fiber skin panels manufactured on adaptive tooling.
Rondal, Curve Works and Artemis Technologies are seeking to increase the market share of wind propelled yachts and have created a highly efficient, automated, composite solid wing sail technology that can be “ready-to-sail” in seconds, further increasing the amount of time vessels rely solely on clean, renewable wind propulsion. The new wing sail technology draws heavily on Artemis’ America’s Cup wing sail development expertise and the project has now created a full scale sailing multi-element solid wing sail demonstrator.
The new wings are typically 1.5 x more efficient and can therefore be sized at about 2/3 of the size of a traditional rig. In addition, there is no parasitic wind drag from standing rigging as the free standing wings require no additional support other than their central rotating bearing around which the wing feathers when not sailing. The solid wing sail innovation relies heavily on the structural properties of composites, featuring lightweight carbon fibre monolithic prepreg load bearing skins, combined with internal ribs and a central spar, also made in prepreg carbon fibre. Whilst similar multi-element wing sails have been developed before, the project is a world first example of a large structural composite wing produced from individual curved wing skin panels that are produced from a single adaptive mould and then bonded together to create the final wing structure.
The adaptive mould allows for bespoke wing shapes and prevents the waste incurred from traditional composite tooling. The on the water test program has also shown the value of the chosen simulation focused design methodology allowing previously unknown real world wing behaviours to be taken back into simulation and resolved with the fixes then validated in real world conditions.
Key benefits
- Fully automated composite wing sail technology for lower emission yachts
- 100% sustainable wind propulsion with lowest possible manufacturing footprint
- Innovative structural assembly created from multiple prepreg carbon panels
- Modeless, scalable, customizable manufacturing process with integrated heating
- Maximizes sailing time and comfort, ready to sail in only 10 seconds
