Continuing the previous idea, but on the classic curved C-shaped kite as illustrated on
AWE TRACTION & PROPULSION KITES
The Airborne Wind Energy sector is receiving a lot of attention from bright minds all over the world and will start playing a part in renewable energy production very soon. The first systems are being sold right now and come as soft wings such as Leading Edge Inflatable kites (LEI) or ram-air kites, or as rigid wings mostly from carbon fiber.
The same counts for numerous initiatives to propel vessels with kites.
shapewave® technologies ability to build full ram-air, hybrid or fully inflatable wings could potentially revolutionise these industries with safer, more durable and more efficient wings to reduce the cost per KWh.
pressure class: 0.0 to 0,05 bar
Perhaps a higher glide number (lift to drag ratio, L/D) could be achieved in a slightly or far higher pressure class. A modular (if required) curved wing would include several inflatable compartments, connected by hinges in a similar way as the C-shaped KiteGen wing mentioned below. In this case the aerodynamic qualities would be obtained by the profile while the cantilever effect would be reduced (compared to that of a rigid wing with a single central tether attach) thanks to the shape and the two tethers or/and a more complete bridle. However the maneuverability of a soft curved wing should be kept by ensuring “an optimal force transfer and to provide steering surfaces” (@rschmehl 's words explaining why curved kites are soft kites), in such a way that a compromise between more efficient rigid profile and flexibility of the curved kite should be found, if it is possible.
A C-shaped wing was studied for an expected high L/D ratio, and built by @Massimo:
A shapewave® C-shaped wing as illustrated could perhaps be a way to really scalable wings with high L/D ratio, for pumping mode, for FlygenKite, or even as blades for giant rotors.