Land Yacht with Wing Sail by marmotjr

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

CatchTheWind
NOTE: Some of my files got corrupted. They will be posted as soon as I can recover/recreate them. Photo's too.
This is a working land yacht powered by a rigid wing sail. It is controllable by either 2 RC servo's or by free sailing.
The goal of this project is to create a working demonstration for students to print out and explore the physics of airfoils. This uses a NACA0018 Airfoil as the wing sail. It is printed in 5 parts, glued together, and placed on the removable mast. One of the wheel sections has a GoPro mount attached for video recording.
The free sail version is designed to have two students on either side of a parking lot. One sets the sails and lets it go. The other student then catches the yacht and sends it back.
The RC version is fully controllable, full steering and 320 degree wing control.
The Wing Sail is 100% 3d printed in 5 parts, A more efficient method would be to print a frame and then laminate the airfoil with a skin, but I wanted to keep construction to a minimum.
The servo version will require, servos, a battery, a Receiver and a Transmitter. Both versions will require wheels, some nuts and bolts, 1" PVC pipe, CF mast, and line. I recommend 50lb (or higher) braided fishing line. The wheels are 72mm Rollerblade wheels, from amazon. I could have printed wheels, but they wouldn't be as smooth or durable.
Check the Instructions for assembly details. This was printed on a 200mm cubed volume printer. I apologize for the Metric/Imperial mix I have here, but it's sometimes difficult in the US to stay metric.
Future Versions:
Add a club footed Jib sail to help power the yacht
Add a windvane sensor attached to an arduino. Since a NACA airfoil has a particular AOA it prefers, the arduino would automatically adjust the wing angle to match the apparent wind.