Morphing airfoil prototype

3D printed morphing airfoil prototype for a wind turbine blade. Mechanical engineering senior capstone project!

[colormefucked]

I'm astonished and ashamed that I haven't seen this until today. That is amazing. Great job!

[poijmc]

Everybody gangsta till planes start swimming

[Voltbolt]

Now for some sort of membrane over where the accordion style segment is to decrease drag and friction

[Kawka]

There are more planes in the sea than submarines in the sky

[deSloleye]

This is cool. I'd like to see how it goes in some arrangement that keeps a smooth wet surface, but I really like how it's a single link actuator. That's not how I imagined a wing that did this would work, but I think it's a better mechanism than anything I thought of.

[davidgretlein]

This appears to be a variant of compliant mechanisms. Pretty cool.

[Dzer]

Alot more engineering that goes into that than my day job. I remember reading up on using shape memory allows in an A340 wing for morphing wings....cool stuff!

[iiiiiiii]

See you guys in 10 years when we all have these wings in our cars and the algorithm brings us back to this video

[azibros]

This is amazing. But algorithm has chosen to keep it from us a secret for 2 years

[commercio]

Would be difficult fitting a mechanism like this with internal fuel tanks in the mainplane. But I could definitely see some sort of hydraulically operated actuators that change the AOA like this with very good precision depending on the airflow outside.

Good piece of engineering this.

[prestonboling]

This is insane. I was just sitting in my Aero class less than 30 minutes ago thinking about if someone had done something like this

[deathpyre]

Now you have to figure out how to cover the bend sections smoothly

[squirrelworks]

At first I was like, wow, this looks super complicated (which is what I always assume when it comes to smart people stuff) and then i realism doesn’t how simple but effective it is and it just make de me more impressed.

[kokoskolan]

As a flight mechanic in training, i can confirm that this very cool

[solomale]

this is really clever. the ability to decrease drag but also decrease lift and vice versa. like built in flaps

[esobofh]

How has this not been done already... just think of the parasitic drag losses saved... nicely done!

[randomsleepyness]

Me trying to get out from the covers in the morning

[dprintinglife]

This is a really interesting concept! Might have to have a go at making a version

[NoPodcastsHere]

I think at least half the genius of this design is that the motors will also act as dynamic sensors as the air pressure applies forces on them during flight, meaning that a good AI system could use them to gather real-time data about the flight conditions, process the data in real time and then adjust the airfoil on-the-fly in a way that seemingly no other system could replicate.

[Wackywizard]

So I love these simplified prototypes of current systems, and this is an amazing example of that. The only downside that I can see that this would create as compared to current airfoil designs is the need for a covering over the actual bending area to minimize drag and chance of wind resistance ripping the wing apart. Otherwise, this makes sense and could totally be applied to current designs!