Sep 7, 2012, 2:42 PM
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Single-surface canopies?
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Looks like some European paraglider designers are having success with ultralight, single-surface wings, and they appear very quick to recover from collapses:
It sure looks like there is an upper and lower skin, at least for a little way back from the leading edge.
Yep. That's what it looks like to me too.
It sure could start some interesting prospects for canopies that would be single skin after the B,C, or even D lines. Significantly less pack volume, weight, less cost...
I don't see two skins, I see a rolled under top skin on the front and a pulled down top skin around the rest. No inflated cells. More akin to a very shallow, squashed round canopy With internal lines to hold the shape. instead of cell walls and bottom skin. May explain why you it recovers so well. It's essentially one big crossport. In other words air from the entire canopy can flow to the collapsed part.
Of course your old enough to have heard about or even jumped about the partial cell canopies.
A Volplane from 1970, patent referred to in above article, is attached.
But the single skin para glider might have application. NOT being a parachute designer I would expect the issue to be opening in freefall. Both functionally opening at high speeds and in construction that would hold together.
It sure could start some interesting prospects for canopies that would be single skin after the B,C, or even D lines. Significantly less pack volume, weight, less cost...
In the 70s there were two canopy designs that had a a dual layer in the front and later went to a single skin design in the rear. The canopies were called the Volplane and the Hornet. Both made by Pioneer. I have jumped and own both models of canopies and they aren't the greatest of chutes. The front of the canopy some rigidity but there is a lot of span wise distortion in them and they act like larger size parachutes.
The gallery shows some better photos of the glider. The basics of this design are nothing new. A parachute and glider from the 1960's had a similar idea and this seems to be a more modern take on it. The parachute I am referring to is the Barish Sailwing. The front of the sailwing was the skin of the parachute rolled over just like this Batlite 1.8 and the rest is a single skin.
The design is different but there are concepts that are very similar. The additional suspension line points and smaller gores, with the addition of stiffer material will reduce much of the span wise distortion that is typical associated with this style of design. It is still there but it is greatly reduced. It is nice to see a more modern take on this old design.
In the 70s there were two canopy designs that had a a dual layer in the front and later went to a single skin design in the rear. The canopies were called the Volplane and the Hornet.
This was Pioneer's way of getting around the patents that Snyder held.
Pioneer eventually made a copy of the Para-Flite's Delta Cloud ( among other names for a similar canopy ) by having a 2-layer canopy back to about 3-4 inches from the tail, where it went to a single layer.
I think this Pioneer canopy may have been called the Viking, but I just do not really remember.
Those patents can be nasty buggers.
Snyder came from a family of attorneys so he would pursue anyone treading on his patents.
JerryBaumchen
PS) A good friend of mine was given a Hornet by Pioneer to evaluate. He eventually removed the D-lines and used it as his reserve.
It sure looks like there is an upper and lower skin, at least for a little way back from the leading edge ________________________________________________ No there is no, I can guarantee to you, since I am use to fly everyday in southearn of france close to this type of wing ! the design has been invented by luc armant from ozone, and the link you refeer it is just a bad copy, in fact it gives to you the picture of a double surface but there is only one but there are 1 foot rods to hold the nose of the single surface curved such if you have not seen in live, you think it is a double surface; one month ago, an experimented pilot took off from Chamonix Valley at 3000 feet high and reached 17000 feet altitude to land on the top of Mont Blanc. The goal of this design is to have a very thin packing volume in order to climb eazy..
There are some Quebec kites called Paraskiflex that are single layer and they are amazingly easy to use and give quite a lift. http://www.paraskiflex.com/
How does the performance compare to more conventional paragliders?
I wonder if you could get a fully soft version to open. I'd love to cut down on the weight and bulk of the canopies we are useing. The 1200 is a 62 lb brick.
THe Temple of Heaven Parachute Company of China used to make a single surface, flat rigged cargo canopy. It looked like on of our ram-air canopys with no top skin or ribs. I don't believe it was steerable. I have a brochure on it.
Oh, I almost forgot Jerry, the Pioneer copy of the Cloud was a Titan. I had one and thought the reason for the single tail was that they ran out of fabric.
(This post was edited by JohnSherman on Sep 8, 2012, 10:44 PM)
I'm developing exactly such a canopy myself, in my garage workshop. I'm thinking of calling it the Para-Dactyl. Cool, eh?
Wait til you see the new-fangled shot-&-a-half Capewells I'm trying to patent.
It also occurs to me, if I move the reserve from the currently inefficient place on the rear - to the front of the jumper's MLW! - it would help improve stability, just like a badminton birdie!.
Pretty soon I'll need a ZZ Top beard.
(This post was edited by Andy9o8 on Sep 8, 2012, 11:00 PM)
Come on it's not that weird. I always wanted to play with some thing like this. And for the record there are a lot of single surface airfoils. You see them in some ultra lights. Look at the quick silver sprint. They are a bit draggy, not the most eficant things in the world but they've flown for years.
How does the performance compare to more conventional paragliders? __________________________________________________ actually it is pretty good, glide ratio is about 9 like most of cross country wings we use, but compare the best paragliders whose glide ratio is about 12, you cannot compete; as I previously wrote the design is made to get a small packing volume in order for people who climb up by foot to be lighter. For skydiving use, there is maybe a chance since the rods which are made to "build" a nose , are in plastic cable harder than cuttaway cable in order to give the shape , but quite close..
With internal lines to hold the shape. instead of cell walls and bottom skin. May explain why you it recovers so well. It's essentially one big crossport. In other words air from the entire canopy can flow to the collapsed part. 
Bohn-A-1970-09-22-Volplane.jpg
