h a l f b a k e r yRomantic, but doomed to fail.
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The Flug
737 Max 9 Fuselage Plug Plug aka The Flug | |
Next time one of the notorious plug panels departs company with the fuselage of a Boeing 737 Max 9, the captain calmly calls out the message: "release the Flug"
This causes The Flug to be released which is instantly sucked towards the vortex created by the gaping void. Inside The Flug is a sensor
and two separated chemicals which when combined form an instantaneously expanding flexible foam.
Milliseconds before reaching its destination, the sensors activate the explosive expansion and The Flug flattens itself against the yawning gap, like a giant chewing gum ball. This has the effect of sealing it off, and preventing anyone (else) from being sucked out.
K2 fluglike
https://www.k2-glob...or-stop-leak-400-ml
like platelets or blood or chewing gum [mylodon, Jan 14 2024]
https://www.bbc.co....world-asia-67968526
[xenzag, Jan 14 2024]
[link]
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While it is waiting to be released, may we pet it? |
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Yes, but there's a charge for that which is discounted if you book in advance. |
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The Flug comes with a drink and a small packet of chips. I know. I ordered it. |
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Obviously, Flug will become standard on all motor vehicles, large and small, in a variety of colours and opacities: CLEAR for repairing a car windshield broken yet again by foreign objects tossed from the lead truck's improperly-secured load; WHITE to replace doors kicked-out of ambulances and prisoner transports; ibid BLACK/BLUE for cop cruiser doors. |
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And then what happens when the Flug pops out? Is there a reserve flug? |
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Some author, and I'm blanking on which, had neutrally buoyant balloons filled with glue floating around a space habitat. If there was a leak, the balloons would naturally drift to the hole, where the vacuum would pop them, and the glue would seal it. |
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Which, come to think of it, is also pretty much how platelets work. Reminds me of this. |
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[MechE], I'd really want that to be an Arthur C. Clarke story but I can't place it either. He had a different approach in "Gentleman, Be Seated!" (1948). Later stories like "Take A Deep Breath” (1957) and a specific scene in "2001" show the concern stayed in his mind for decades. |
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As to The Flug, it's halfbaked but not by much. Expanding sealants released in the case of leaks exist in various forms, though not (yet) the scale of a massive wad of chewing gum able to fill a blown out window or door panel. |
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If it wasn’t Clarke it was one of his cohort and timeline; Anderson, Sturgeon, Simak, Niven? I recall an astronaut doing a spacewalk to locate the fountain of escaping air from the microscopic pinhole, and using some kludge to plug it. Flug it, rather. |
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But the size of the leak is critical. Something the size of a door heading for a door-sized hole to plug it would probably take out a few passengers on its way. |
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No - The Flug is about the size of a ping pong ball but expands exponentially nano seconds before reaching the gap. |
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// size of a ping pong ball but expands exponentially nano seconds // |
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Certainly has potential to be a weapon, but the practical application for sealing holes is on a smaller scale. A bit of sticky Flug-like material encapsulated into strips in the seams around an airplane's window or other panels, all the way around. When any part of the seams start to tear the stuff expands (in nanoseconds? picoseconds? why not femtoseconds?) and glues the panel back in place BEFORE it can go flying off to some schoolteacher's backyard. |
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It would make routine inspection and maintenance of the seals a little more difficult, but it's a small price to pay for an increased sense of security. |
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//the practical application// - what does that mean? These are unknown terms on the halfbakery (by me anyway) - you need The Sensible/Practical Bakery for those type of proposals. |
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Just trying to thrive between the sublime and the ridiculous. |
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There's as much joy for me to learn of real ways to instantly seal a hull breach as there is for you to imagine using a giant wad of chewing gum. |
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// There's as much joy for me to learn of real ways to instantly seal a hull breach as there is for you to imagine using a giant wad of chewing gum.// |
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Those are both highly appealing and will occupy my thoughts for many would-otherwise-be-boring hours. Thank you |
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Okay, it works. A ping-pong size ball of flug is drawn to a pinhole or a larger opening. It ‘knows’ when to solidify or else it would squeeze through entirely and disappear into the void, leaving the hole. |
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As it’s hardening in contact with the hull it fills the hole and as it takes a bit of time to harden it leaves a nice flattened flug plug inside, but OUTSIDE! Each ‘repair’ leaves a sharp spindle, a knitting needle, or a spike coming out of the hull where the repair happened. A few of these any your craft starts looking like a porcupine. Dangerous to navigate on a spacewalk. Good otherwise, though. |
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Now the Boeing windscreens are going to need a similar product - perhaps of a more transparent nature. (see BBC news link) |
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// Now the Boeing windscreens are going to need a similar product// |
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So will Airbus. Aircraft windows of most manufactures break - rarely enough that they are often newsworthy events - for a variety of reasons. |
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For example, make sure The Flug’s efficiency won’t be compromised by temperature extremes. In October 2023, the outer layers of three windows fell out in-flight of an Airbus 321. Investigators say cause was heat damage to the window seals, from high-powered lights used when filming an advertisement some days earlier. |
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That was an odd one. Bird strikes, hailstones, other foreign object debris are more common reasons for aircraft window breaks. None of these favor Boeing over Airbus or other manufacturers, nor can they be usually be attributed to design or maintenance issues. |
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