automated flap setting

On Monday, November 11, 2013 at 1:36:33 PM UTC-7, John Cochrane wrote:
Didn't Will Scheumann do this in the 70s? I remember a soaring cover photo with a weird sort of mortocycle grip on the stick. As I remember, the basic idea was that the pilot pretty much flew by flaps, changing flap setting to induce changes in CL, with the tail functioning as trimmer.

Now if the windward guys really want to get fancy... you can in principle extract a lot of energy from the air by dynamic soaring the small bits of positive and negative g we run in to all the time. Humans are too slow, and we don't have the feedback we need, which is knowing when the lift vector has a component in the direction of motion to pull, and a component in the opposite direction when you push. This could be automated, lots of little fast pitch motions. Purists laugh, but if you get 60:1 glides out of 15 meter with high speed automated pitch motions, they'll laugh all the way to the back of the scoresheet. Or, I guess, to the annual rules poll to get it banned...

John Cochrane

Perhaps you are thinking of the Flap Integrator handle I have on JG. (AS-W12 SN 002) I believe it was originally installed by George Worthington. That was the idea, to fly cruise using the Flap handle. Based on Airspeed and sink rate.

wrote, On 11/11/2013 12:09 PM:
On Monday, November 11, 2013 10:23:46 AM UTC-5, WB wrote:
A prototype automated flap system was mentioned in the recent
Duckhawk discussion. My question: Given that our manual flap
settings cannot be optimal, how much real-world improvement in
climb and cruise could be gained with an automated flap system that
always has the flaps at their optimal position ( a hypothetical
"perfect" flap setter)? --- news://freenews.netfront.net/ -
complaints: ---

Most current flapped gliders are fairly tolerant of errors in flap
setting. The challange with automating flap settings, other than the
relatively simple glide portion of the flight, is that the flap
change quite likely needs to lead the change in lift coefficient. It
also would need to have some serious filtering to take out gust
effects. Add to this a need to not overdo changes to avoid running
the power source down. Sounds like a very complex project with a
marginal benefit, especially when applied to gliders with tolerant
airfoils. Then again, thinking back to my PIK-20, it would have been
useful. I wore myself out keeping the flaps in the optimum position
for the required lift coefficient. Thank goodness for modern
airfoils.

My understanding, based on comments from some of the Duckhawk folk a
year ago, is the flap motion will be fast enough to take advantage of
gusts; ie, it's not just to optimize the flaps for the speed you've
selected during a long glide.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA (change ".netto" to ".us" to
email me)

Does anyone know what became of the Will Schuemann's flap control system as described in the July 1975 issue of Soaring Magazine? It was supposed to appear in the ASW-20, but seems to have disappeared...

On Monday, November 11, 2013 10:23:46 AM UTC-5, WB wrote:
A prototype automated flap system was mentioned in the recent Duckhawk

discussion.



My question: Given that our manual flap settings cannot be optimal, how

much real-world improvement in climb and cruise could be gained with an

automated flap system that always has the flaps at their optimal

position ( a hypothetical "perfect" flap setter)?



--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: ---