5 ms·
maybe a dumb question but how did they solve the issue of coiling? if my Q isn't clear, I mean the twisting of the tether as the airborne vehicle circles the sk
by lingben 13y ago
maybe a dumb question but how did they solve the issue of coiling? if my Q isn't clear, I mean the twisting of the tether as the airborne vehicle circles the sky
- mc-lovin 13y agocan't they just turn whatever is holding the tether in place on the ground?
- lingben 13y agosure, but you can't turn the actual wire itself indefinitely or it will shear eventually
- ricardobeat 13y agoThe twisting is what transfers the energy, it must be turning a generator.
- baseh 13y agoAccording to their video, little turbines in the wing generate the electricity and transmit it through the tether. So probably the tether is attached to a ground unit that doesnt allow twisting (i.e rotates with the tether) http://i.imgur.com/UoEfnyW.png?1 http://i.imgur.com/UoEfnyW.png?1
- ricardobeat 13y agoYeah, that's correct, and makes more sense. They do have a page explaining the tech: http://www.makanipower.com/how-does-it-work/ http://www.makanipower.com/how-does-it-work/
- cma 13y agotie the tether to something that can spin in opposition to the twist (a wheel or a gimbal).
- lingben 13y agosure, but you can't turn the actual wire itself indefinitely or it will shear eventually
- shabble 13y agoYou can just use a slip ring[1] at one or both ends (along with a whole bunch of axial thrust bearings, I imagine). There are some neat (and very non-RoHS) slip ring implementations that use a series of liquid mercury filled channels to sidestep the brush wear issue, but I don't know that would be useful here, based on rotation speeds. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slip_ring https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slip_ring