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The article does not really explain how it works. From my naïve understanding, those wings sails do not seem to be ordinary wings but are shaped like the ones i

The article does not really explain how it works. From my naïve understanding, those wings sails do not seem to be ordinary wings but are shaped like the ones in airplanes. When they are rotated to the right angle given the wind direction, the vessel is pulled forward. The topic reminds me of the Flettner rotor [1] and other wind-assisted propulsion systems [2]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner_rotor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner_rotor & https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner-Rotor https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flettner-Rotor [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind-assisted_propulsion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind-assisted_propulsion

chrisseaton 6y ago
> The article does not really explain how it works. It's a sail. Being rigid instead of a piece of cloth doesn't change the basics of how it's working. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sail
nabla9 6y ago
They work just like normal sails. A sail is just a wing sideways. It moves the ship by generating lift. The ship moves forward when the angle of attack is adjusted correctly. See the picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_sail#/media/File:Points_of_sail.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_sail#/media/File:Poin... The ship can't move directly against the wind, but it can close-haul 45 degrees against the wind assuming it has enough keel.
- FrontAid 6y ago
  Not sure about that. Normal sails "bend" away from the wind and thus have a much stronger lift. This concept's sails are "beant" outwards and would lose much of the wind's force. This source [1] states that "The futuristic sails are like airplane wigs using the same level of aerodynamic technology" which would imply that they absolutely do not "work just like normal sails". [1] https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/swedish-collaboration-unveils-world-s-largest-sail-powered-car-carrier https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/swedish-collabora...
  - newsclues 6y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airfoil https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airfoil
  - nabla9 6y ago
    Wingsail works with the same principle as conventional sail, it's just more efficient (hang gliders use the sails to fly).
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - jasonwatkinspdx 6y ago
    Wingsails like this generally have a 3x to 5x advantage in lift/drag ratio for equal area.
- amelius 6y ago
  > The ship can't move directly against the wind Is that a fundamental physical limitation, or would it be possible to come up with a design that allows moving directly against the wind (while being fully wind-powered). (EDIT: ok, answering my own question: I guess you could anchor the ship and use a wind-turbine to charge a battery, then use that energy to move a bit, anchor again and repeat)
  - perilunar 6y ago
    Wind turbine ships can sail directly into the wind. There's no need to anchor or store energy — you can just power the propeller directly from the turbine.

chrisseaton 6y ago

> The article does not really explain how it works. It's a sail. Being rigid instead of a piece of cloth doesn't change the basics of how it's working. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sail

nabla9 6y ago

They work just like normal sails. A sail is just a wing sideways. It moves the ship by generating lift. The ship moves forward when the angle of attack is adjusted correctly. See the picture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_sail#/media/File:Points_of_sail.svg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_sail#/media/File:Poin... The ship can't move directly against the wind, but it can close-haul 45 degrees against the wind assuming it has enough keel.

FrontAid 6y ago
Not sure about that. Normal sails "bend" away from the wind and thus have a much stronger lift. This concept's sails are "beant" outwards and would lose much of the wind's force. This source [1] states that "The futuristic sails are like airplane wigs using the same level of aerodynamic technology" which would imply that they absolutely do not "work just like normal sails". [1] https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/swedish-collaboration-unveils-world-s-largest-sail-powered-car-carrier https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/swedish-collabora...
- newsclues 6y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airfoil https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airfoil
- nabla9 6y ago
  Wingsail works with the same principle as conventional sail, it's just more efficient (hang gliders use the sails to fly).
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- jasonwatkinspdx 6y ago
  Wingsails like this generally have a 3x to 5x advantage in lift/drag ratio for equal area.
amelius 6y ago
> The ship can't move directly against the wind Is that a fundamental physical limitation, or would it be possible to come up with a design that allows moving directly against the wind (while being fully wind-powered). (EDIT: ok, answering my own question: I guess you could anchor the ship and use a wind-turbine to charge a battery, then use that energy to move a bit, anchor again and repeat)
- perilunar 6y ago
  Wind turbine ships can sail directly into the wind. There's no need to anchor or store energy — you can just power the propeller directly from the turbine.