kiteassist

Logger Update

3/30/12

All of the electronic interconnects that glue together the various components inside the logger box are now consolidated on a single printed circuit board. This should simplify ongoing maintenance and make it much simpler to produce additional loggers.

As an experiment, a diode and bleed resistor have been added to the battery charging port, which may help prevent galvanic corrosion at its terminals, which will almost certainly be exposed to some seawater.

Kite Inflator Update

3/30/12

We learned a number of lessons since the development of the first kite inflator PCB, including the need for a pressure release valve. The latest revision is much smaller overall, provides better electronic isolation of the pump motor, and more convenient positioning of connectors.

Inflator Kite Test

2/21/12

We tested the inflator on a kite in the shop on Friday. The overall performance of the pump, pressure release valve, and radio link exceed our requirements. The firmware crashed after several hours of operation, however, so we will need to fix this bug and ensure that any future errors do not result in a deflated or exploded kite. The test showed that the inflation rate is 1.4 psi/hour and deflation rate is 5.6 psi/hour with a 40 sqm kite in the pressure range of interest. This is fast enough to handle small leaks, temperature-related pressure changes, and minor inflation adjustments for performance optimization.

Feb 9 – Lone Ranger Update

2/9/12

The team hard at work with the sediment trap, and a beautiful icebow. Plus, check out that high altitude shot.

Bridle System Algorithm

2/8/12

Dudu has been working on the bridle system algorithm for the last 3 weeks, and he finally got it working.

It has the same tools as the current software with many improvements. The algorithm finds the perfect path from the bar through all the bifurcating points along the “tree” to finally end on each kite attachment point. Attached are some screen grabs of one bridle model, and below is the XML file that contains bridle data and the C++ code that is the “engine” of the bridle system.

This was designed to be flexible and allow the use on many types of objects other than conventional kites. Dudu is now working now on the UI (User Interface) to facilitate the flexible design and […more]