china

China trip December 2011 – ROK kites

12/19/11

On this trip we made many ROK kites with the latest updates. We took the prototypes to fly at our usual test site and based on the results, designed some more with the new ideas and new software results.

On the materials side, we made 3 ROKs (3 different sizes) using Cubic Tech CT3.5, with Tapeglue along the intersegment panels and dacron reinforced stitch closing seam. The result was good, but after keeping the kites inflated for 3 days, the bottom of the main intersection started to fail, proving that we can’t use tape at that spot. We are fixing that by making the intersection with dacron, after a transition from the CT3.5

The other tests were 2 new sizes:
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China trip December 2011 – Gas Kite Model

12/19/11

The Gas Kite is a lifting device that mixes the use of lighter-than-air gas lift with lift from a kite. Perfect for missions when the wind is too light to use our ROK kites to lift cameras, we take advantage that it will go up with almost no wind, then it will catch the light breeze that will help to stay even higher and stable.

Our main development this time in the factory was to study the 3D inflated shape of the lifting balloon. The original Gas Kite is made by welding 2 flat circles. The resulting inflated shape is not a sphere, but a “flattened sphere”, more like a pancake… or a burger. Because the balloon is made with […more]