Authors: Joep Breuer, Rolf Luchsinger, Roland Schmehl. Text and PDF available on the link below:
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I find this very interesting and innovative. But, the wings produced don’t seem very aerodynamically effective.
I think maybe take a step back to consider 3D inflated foils with internal structures. I am unsure if Jaquard weaving is the main takeaway here.
There was a company showing drop stiched kites at AWEC 2021.
From the book of abstracts at https://repository.tudelft.nl/islandora/object/uuid:696eb599-ab9a-4593-aedc-738eb14a90b3?collection=research
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@tallakt I have tried may times to find out how dropstich fabric is made without suksess. I have only come as far as finding that the machine has hundreds of parallell needles to make the vertical threads, but have not found out how they make the slack that is required to maintain the correct thickness when the fabric is inflated. I even tried to ask ChatGPT without getting any closer to how it works.
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Seems the SUP and the wing from Enserink use a different process, the threads in the SUP seem a lot denser.
I seem to remember that the wing section at AWEC was hand made but work was being done to automate production.
Seems creating the machine is almost as hi-tech as AWE itself. So that could be a reason to stick to what already exists
A video with some explains:
From the website:
And also:
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Ok. That is not dropstich fabric. It looks like they are just ultrasonic welding a ribbon (probably ripstop nylon with a TPU coating) to the two skins of the wing. A novel concept, but i don’t think it will be nearly as strong as a true dropstich fabric, but maybe it don’t need to be if they are using lower pressures than is used in SUP’s and other stuff that use dropstich fabric. But lower pressures also mean less stiffness and more fluttering and more wear on the fabric.
Also the dimples they get where each ribbon is attached will not be there one true dropstich fabric, because the threads are much closer than the ribbons on this concept. I have seen these dimples on some air mattresses for camping and start to wonder if they are made the same way?
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Here is more info on dtop stitching. Seems base material is preproduced in a fixed thickness, then made to whatever shape necessary.
I am not sure if that process would be suitable for a wing. Also in huge sizes they would be relatively softer.
The Enserink design though is more customizable in thickness of the profile and holds more promise to me.