Kite Safety Device with Center-Routed Control Bar
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional kite safety systems face challenges such as inadequate depowering, line tangling, and twisting, which can compromise the safety and control of power kites, especially when the safety tether interferes with normal operations or becomes tangled.
Innovation Solution
A safety system for kites that includes a control bar with a stopper housing and a flying line extension with an increased diameter element to prevent line travel through the stopper housing, minimizing tangling and twisting by routing the lines through a common aperture, allowing for effective depowering by creating slack in the remaining lines.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a separate tether is attached to the user and run to one of the flying lines with a one-way stopping device, then the safety system can restrain the flying line to depower the kite, but the tether becomes tangled and twisted during normal operation and relaunching
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the safety tether with the existing control bar structure by routing the tether through the control bar's aperture and attaching it to the flying line via the stopper housing. This integration eliminates the need for a separate tether system, reducing tangling and twisting while maintaining safety depowering capability through the same control bar mechanism.
Solution Approach 2:
The control bar acts as an intermediary element between the user and the flying line. By routing the safety tether through the control bar's aperture and using the stopper housing as a mediator, the system allows the tether to be restrained without direct attachment to the user, preventing tangling while enabling effective depowering.
2Ease of operation
If the flying line is restrained by allowing it to be freely drawn in towards the user during normal operation, then the kite can be controlled normally, but the line becomes tangled when the control bar is pulled away during safety deployment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the flying line into two functional portions: a first portion that can be freely drawn in towards the user during normal operation for control, and a second portion that extends through the control bar aperture and attaches to the stopper housing for safety restraint. This segmentation allows normal control operations without causing tangling during safety deployment.
Solution Approach 2:
The safety tether is routed through the control bar aperture, adding a spatial dimension to the line arrangement. By positioning the tether in a different spatial path through the control bar, the system prevents tangling between the control lines and the safety tether during both normal operation and safety deployment.
3Reliability
If the control bar is released to allow the flying line to be pulled through the stopper housing for depowering, then the kite can be depowered effectively, but the relaunching process becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides dynamic control over the depowering process. The user can control the amount of line pulled through the stopper housing by dynamically adjusting the control bar position, allowing gradual depowering for safer relaunching rather than abrupt line release. This dynamic control makes the relaunching process easier by maintaining some line tension.
Solution Approach 2:
The safety tether is pre-routed through the control bar aperture and attached to the stopper housing before normal operation begins. This preliminary arrangement ensures that when depowering is needed, the line is already positioned to be pulled through smoothly without tangling, facilitating easier relaunching after depowering.
Data Source
AI summary
A control device for use with an aerodynamic wing including a bar having a safety system that restrains one of the flying lines by routing an attachment through an aperture on the bar. Preferably, the system includes a stopper housing that engages an increased diameter element of the flying line. During normal operation, the increased diameter element is secured by the stopper housing, preventing the flying line from being pulled beyond the stopper housing. When the safety system is deployed, the increased diameter element is pulled from the stopper housing and slack is developed along the remaining flying lines to depower the kite.