Vehicle: Aircraft: Airship: Shape
parachute wing stretched out by quadcopters   (+3, -2)  [vote for, against]
the quadcopters can pull the ends up or down then you pull the strings

Once the parachute's shape is set you use it just like any other Ram-air parachute's airfoil.

its folded and opens only by the pulling of the quads giving it the desired shape.
-- pashute, Nov 04 2021

An actual trial with this idea http://tenrandomfac...r-Parachute-001.jpg
The quadcopters are too small to be seen in the image [pashute, Nov 04 2021]

Like this? https://www.festo.c...up/en/cms/10244.htm
An airborne jellyfish. [neutrinos_shadow, Nov 09 2021]

So instead of hands pulling the control ropes you use quad copters? Why not just use motors attached to the payload? Way more efficient.

If I'm understanding you correctly.
-- doctorremulac3, Nov 04 2021


Do you mean a rapid deployment system for the chute, so it can go from packed to working extremely quickly? Wouldn't need "quadcopters" per se, just 4 individual ducted props, well tethered for directional stability (& probably jettisioned after use to save weight & tangling...).
-- neutrinos_shadow, Nov 04 2021


[a1], I think [pashute] was pulling our legs with his description of the link; if you look at the page the picture comes from, it's just a list of facts about existing ram air parachutes. Obviously.
-- pertinax, Nov 04 2021


Seems like the wrong category, too. Is this the vehicle? How do you determine the shape? Too many unanswered questions?
-- xandram, Nov 05 2021


Yes [pert] was right, but I was joking, hoping to bring smiles, because I thought the idea was clear, and definitely did not mean to piss any of you off.

Ok, clarification; The idea is for a hang glider type of parachute, which could be very large. You don't need to unfold it. You don't need to spread it out and you don't need wind.

An extra feature could be that pulling down on the parachute (perhaps even with a motor), it could add energy to the uplift motion, and then the quads could bring up the middle while the upwards thrust is not pulling the middle down, then to the sides creating some sort of large "ornithopter".

There are kinds of sea creatures that seemingly swim like that (but not with quadcopters of course).
-- pashute, Nov 09 2021



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