Hydrofoil Strut and Wing Rotation for Roll Stability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hydrofoil watercraft designs suffer from complexity and instability, particularly in roll stability, due to pivotally attached struts that restrict lateral movement and are prone to wear.
Innovation Solution
A hydrofoil arrangement with rotatable struts and lifting wings, where struts are fixedly attached to the lifting wing, allowing them to rotate about transverse and longitudinal axes relative to the base unit, enhancing stability without the need for servomotors or sensors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If struts are pivotally attached to the lifting wing to provide stability, then stability is improved, but device complexity increases and wear resistance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of pivotally attaching struts to the lifting wing (conventional approach), the patent inverts the attachment method by fixedly attaching struts to the base unit and allowing the base unit to rotate relative to the watercraft body. This inversion eliminates pivot connections at the strut-lifting wing interface, reducing complexity and wear while maintaining stability through the rotational base unit mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the pivotal connection functionality from the strut-lifting wing interface and relocates it to the base unit-watercraft body interface. By taking out the pivot mechanism from critical load-bearing strut connections and placing it in the base unit rotation mechanism, the design reduces wear at critical points while maintaining the necessary degrees of freedom for stability.
2Reliability
If struts are pivotally attached to provide roll stability, then roll stability is improved, but ease of maintenance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the conventional pivotal attachment approach by fixedly mounting struts to the base unit and providing rotation capability at the base unit-watercraft body interface instead. This inversion eliminates wear-prone pivot connections at the strut-lifting wing interface, significantly improving ease of maintenance while preserving roll stability through the rotational base unit mechanism.
3Device complexity
If struts are fixedly attached to the lifting wing, then device complexity is reduced, but stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies inversion by fixedly attaching struts to the base unit (rather than pivotally attaching them to the lifting wing) and compensating for the lack of pivotal movement through a rotational base unit mechanism. This maintains simplicity in strut attachment while preserving stability through the rotational degree of freedom at the base unit-watercraft body interface.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional pivotal movement at the strut-lifting wing interface to three-dimensional rotational movement of the base unit relative to the watercraft body. This dimensional change allows the base unit to accommodate lateral and longitudinal movements while maintaining stability, compensating for the fixed strut attachment.
4Adaptability or versatility
If struts are pivotally attached to allow lateral movement, then adaptability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the approach by providing lateral movement capability through the rotational base unit mechanism rather than through pivotal attachments at the strut-lifting wing interface. This inversion maintains adaptability for lateral and longitudinal movements while reducing structural complexity by eliminating multiple pivot connections.
Solution Approach 2:
The rotational base unit mechanism serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides lateral movement capability, accommodates longitudinal movements, and maintains stability. This multi-functionality replaces what would otherwise require separate pivotal connections at multiple locations, reducing overall device complexity while preserving adaptability.
Data Source
AI summary
A hydrofoil arrangement for a hydrofoil watercraft, comprising a base unit attachable to a body of the hydrofoil watercraft having a longitudinal extension extending in a longitudinal direction; a lifting wing; and first and second struts attached to the lifting wing and pivotally attached to the base unit so as to be rotatable in relation to the base unit. The lifting wing has a longitudinal extension. The first and second struts are configured to attach the lifting wing to the base unit such that the longitudinal extension of the lifting wing extends in the direction of a transverse axis transverse to the longitudinal direction. The struts and the lifting wing are rotatable about a first pivot axis in relation to the base unit, the first pivot axis being transverse to the transverse axis and the longitudinal direction. The struts are configured to rotate about the transverse axis in relation to the base unit while the struts and the lifting wing rotate about the first pivot axis.