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Here is my armchair engineering design. The blades are already wings so they get bolted on and become the wings of the plane and can rotate (or add canards if t
by brikym 1y ago
Here is my armchair engineering design. The blades are already wings so they get bolted on and become the wings of the plane and can rotate (or add canards if that's too hard). The engines are at the back.
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But then how does it get back home? Attach some 70m blades as wings.
What about the asymmetry of the blades? You can't have two blades from the same wind turbine as one would have the leading edge facing backwards. Every second wind turbine would have to rotate in the opposite direction for this to work.
It would probably work as well as da Vinci's helicopter but it's an interesting thought experiment.
- antod 1y agoAnother problem is that the blade are twisted like propeller rather than straight like a wing. Which then leads to.... Why not a giant helicopter? Then you don't need to worry about the symmetry.
- adrianN 1y agoI would love to see the math on how fast you'd need to spin the blades to lift the engine capable of spinning them. In normal operation they spin quite slowly, but due to their lengths the tips reach some ludicrous speeds.
- viraptor 1y agoOr two helicopters carrying the suspended ends of the blade.
- Gravityloss 1y agoExactly. VTOL is also great as you can deliver the blades really close to construction location. If you installed small props at the tips of the blades, you wouldn't need any torque rotor. I don't know if you still need the variable pitch mechanism or could you lock the blades to one pitch for spin-transport. Helicopter efficiency is quite terrible though so long distance travel would require constant aerial refueling. I guess you could have a probe in the hub. What could go wrong?
- Gravityloss 1y agoAlso, you can even fly a single blade with a small propeller at either tip providing the spinning motion.