Autonomous Solar Powered Hydrofoil: Part 1

This video details the initial growing pains of building my very own solar powered autonomous hydrofoil.

[rctestflight]

I wanna see what happens with no foils and a few more volts! I feel like it might make a nice GEV haha

[Project-Air]

Loved the video! I definitely relate to the frustrations hydrofoils can create. 😅 I had exactly the same problem with ventilation on one of my crude hydrofoil designs from a couple of years ago. Should have read that book (rather than only watching the summary) as this is the first time I've learned what that strange behaviour is called!

[awood]

Love this channel. I've wanted to build a solar powered hydrofoil for ages.

[captainobvious]

I came across this channel while doing research on how I could make a rigid wingsail with integrated solar — I want to convert a catamaran sailboat to all electric/wingsail with control systems to make piloting simple. Between cells covering the roof and wingsail I should have a pretty good average PV production with a smaller wingsail giving a solid assist. You have lots of awesome stuff! Thanks for sharing your projects!

[paralinq]

Always awesome to see you come along and take things to a new level!

[OzAndyify]

Good fun. Foilers are really tricky! You might want to try supercavitating foils at this tiny scale - Just a simple slim wedge with a fat, square TE. They are normally far less efficient until high speeds are reached, but can handle cavitation and ventilation better. A ladder arrangement might also give better stability and less ventilation.

[Dovorans]

Really cool project! Some thoughts to deal with the ventilation problem. Wing fences might halt the movement of the ventilation down to the tip. A ladder foil might also give you the increasing lift with depth while ensuring that most of the foils are fully submerged instead of piercing. You could also used a fully submerged foil for most of your lift, and have the piercing foils for stability be significantly steeper.

Finally, propeller underwater is far more efficient than in air, that might give you the edge you need to transition to full solar power.

[JustAnotherBigby]

The camera falling as a virtual facepalm is pretty funny. I can't wait to see your eventual success...

[johnsmithfakename]

I find hydrofoil boats to be the most interesting invention for water craft, because they can be the peak in efficiency (with current technology) for water movement.

[adamhale]

Your manufacturing ability and quality far surpasses anything I have seen (sorry Daniel). What you call a "simple test rig" is good enough to be my graduate research project.

[NicholasRehm]

I can.. uhhhh..relate to the stubbornness leading to lots of iterations hahaha
I'm wondering if you're dead set on passive altitude holding with the angled hydrofoils or if you're thinking of going with active stabilization like Daniel did?

[AerialWaviator]

Great dedication and effort. This clearly seen at 10:15 where a thumb is seen with more red paint than the just sanded foils. Good progress achieved. Especially in understanding where the real challenges lay.

Wondering is could add equivalent to a vortex generator to the foil just under the ideal waterline?
My thinking being if could direct a bit of water to flow up the foil, to suppress the air from flowing down. Also thinking about wing loading. With planes a stall is much more abrupt at higher wing loading, thus greatly increasing recovery time.
FYI: a couple years ago I learned of solar powered hydrofoil boat races that university students in the Netherlands participate. There are also human powered hydrofoil races picture a human on a bicycle frame on a hydrofoil. This may provide some inspiration.

[fluiditynz]

It's on my to-do list too. Currently working up the code using ESP32-S2 micros for the wireless coms, implementing controller end rotary encoders, joysticks and model end servo PWM and LIDAR or Sonar height sensing. Also considering pressure sensors on struts instead of lidar. Solar cells on order. Hydrofoil designs from my wingsurfing R&D experiments.

[HAL_]

Outdoor-rated plastic coatings often enough block UV really well. If you're using fancy triple-junction cells that have a broad blue-doped junction and a red junction with a small sensitivity to UV, and you're using them in vacuum (or no ozone) you could see a pretty large net power loss.

Using recreational/industrial single- or even dual-junction cells below an ozone layer I would expect the layup to have more effect than the fact that you've coated the cells with plastic. the diffraction if the glass fibers may have some slight reduction on direct, 90-degree light absorption, but since it will be operating in all sorts of orientations, I'd expect the reduced falloff to make up for it.

I'm also curious to see what you find.

[morkovija]

Exactly my thought - better lift, larger wingspan - perfect candidate for electrification

[ericlotze]

No need to freak out about not producing videos fast enough etc. Don't let the Content Treadmill get to your head; it can seriously fuck up your mental health.

And Besides, we are here for your amazing projects, even if they take a bit of time.

Great video+project, and keep up the great work!

[thecatofnineswords]

I wonder if putting disturbers, or mini fins on the hydrofoils could help stop the ventilation.
You're foiling at very low speeds, which is really good and encouraging.

[iamkian]

we just finished building our 1st e-foil.
it's an inflatable with a Gong 64cm mast and a XL wing.
before this we build 2 jet boards.

[Aboriginal_Alien]

Dude your nailing the concept here just add a sail and you have the basic form of the future of global transportation of consumer goods. Imagine massive solar powered sailing hydrofoil Ekranoplan drones driven by AI in concert with weather satellites transporting global resources!

[TheIutcher]

I was looking forward to you releasing your next video. I also want to design a WIG and build it. You are much further than most people and it has been a good learning experience watching your videos. Thanks for the hours of informative content. I appreciate you.