Most preferably they overlap such that the aft edge of each panel lies below the forward edge of the next panel. 4. Rather than settling for the conventional segmented skirt system, Neoteric has elevated hovercraft skirt technology to a new level. You can now cut the two strips and fold them in the right places to match the lines drew previously. Draw a vertical segment that will depict one of your attaching strips (3 cm height in my case, because my hull is 30 cm large). choose different colors to match the individual design of your hovercraft. Hoverworks of Parry Sound, Ontario hopes to improve matters with its AirRider hovercraft, which uses a hybrid hull and skirt design that combines the best of conventional hovercraft technologies . Best suited to multi-terrain cruising hovercraft. Car/Motorcyle; weight and center of gravity stay the same unless braking torque is applied or aerodynamic forces have an influenence. For larger models, I suggest limiting this size to a maximum of 4 cm. A hovercraft is an all-terrain vehicle (water/land) that moves on a cushion of air. Each of the inner bag panels in a multi-panel tiled arrangement in accordance with embodiments of the present invention may have a drooping trailing edge. 2. The complete Neoteric Hovercraft black finger skirt system includes a spare side Start by taping two corners to tighten one side of the skirt, then add tape along the length. The skirt is in excellent condition and skirt patterns are included to make new future skirts. Ideally, the pressure coming from the blower would only be somewhat greater than skirt pressure, and that would be only somewhat greater than velocity pressure of the air escaping from underneath. Draw three horizontal lines like shown and a vertical axis. 1983 The 1000TD. If an inner panel 40 is damaged or worn, it can be replaced individually without the need to remove and replace a large unitary panel. You can then "close the skirt" by taping it on the two polypropylene strips, edge to edge. Pay attention to the last dot that you may have added manually during the previous steps - in that case, the two last lines, at the top of the drawing, will not have the same "X" gap as the others. Contact me with questions! New segments slide into a special slot along the hovercraft's edge without the need for mechanical fasteners, which enhances the sleek, agile appearance of all Neoteric hovercraft. of making the skirt may not be very low but it is important that once Skirt Design and Duct Integration Bottom View Motor to be mounted ON the duct front face. Original (factory) configuration with tigershark teeth: . terrain over which you intent to operate it. You can use other materials or other fabrics as long as they are resistant enough, airproof and waterproof, while being flexible enough to inflate. whereas those fitted with bag skirts usually have square or angular not drag whilst another is 20 or 30 millimetres above the ground. Use left/right arrows to navigate the slideshow or swipe left/right if using a mobile device. In this example, as is commonly the case, the shape of the hull 2 means that the connection of the inner edge 34 of the inner bag portion 28 is inboard of the connection of the outer bag portion 26 to the hull 2. Then, we draw the first dot of the template : draw a horizontal line joining the beginning of the skirt to the diagonal drawn previously, and from there draw a right angle to join the horizontal line of the corner. The Hovercraft narrow Front Segment Skirt System has extended inner diaphragm With a pencil, draw two lines parallel to the sides of the hull. With a compass, measure the length of the arc marked in red. Sorry to say that I don't have pictures to show the sewing of bigger hovercrafts skirts right now, but the principle remains exactly the same. As you can see, I'm using trash bags for my RC hovercrafts, which give surprisingly good results. be developed in a similar way. Now that you have all your templates, you need to cut skirts pieces with the right dimensions. cushion. You now need to draw the shape of your skirt using drawing software like Geogebra or graph paper. panels should be sufficient in number to enable the skirt to look One of the inherent flaws with the original designs was the amount of clearance required between the vehicle and the surface it was to hover over. Here are a few examples : six angles at the front (3 different values). Various variations and modifications to the specifically described example are possible within the scope of the invention. In this way the bag has a secondary function as a conduit which distributes air evenly from a small number of lift fan outlets to the main air cushion. We design our skirts and seals on an individual basis, providing a tailored product that meets the specific requirements of each project. Manufacturer of electrical power transformer. Backed by a long history of laboratory development and on-craft experience, we can match compounds and materials to accommodate specific needs for varying degrees of ozone and oil contamination, abrasion and flagellation that may be encountered during use. the hydro-dynamics of the hull form. Offer little resistance to the passage of obstacles 1 shows a hovercraft having a central hull that carries a passenger cabin 4. We design our skirts and seals on an individual basis, providing a tailored product that meets the specific requirements of each project. ones. A "vented bag skirt" is set to the hull in two places: on the edges of the hull, and under the hull. black, but you may customize the color to match your hovercraft. It will keep the back of the skirt from vibrating and tearing. The two skirt pieces will melt and solder. Allrightsreserved. Taking a look at the skirts! again, see this page for more explanations. will give you an instant improvement in your hovercraft's performance. If your hull design is complex, you can have two different angle values on the same piece of skirt, as shown on the drawing on the right. The first hovercraft is delivered to the RNLI for search and rescue along the coast of the United Kingdom. Neoteric's engineers are never satisfied with the status quo. By necessity, the skirt offers a strong resistance to abrasion, pressureThere are three main families of skirts : bag skirts, finger skirts and combined bag and finger skirts. Draw a vertical segment that will depict one of your attaching strips (3 cm height in my case, because my hull is 30 cm large). For small models (up to 40 cm hull width), the height of these strips can be 10% of the hull width. Your completed hovercraft should have CD flat on the bottom, pop-tip lid above and the inflated balloon's neck stretched . A skirt (10) for a hovercraft including a bag section (26) for attachment to the hull (30) of the hovercraft and a plurality of fingers (22) extending downwardly from the bag section (26). fore extra cushion area and thus more lift is provided at that side, Combined bag and finger skirts typically comprise an "inner bag" portion underneath the craft at the interface between the bag portion and the finger portions. The newer skirt designs dont spray as much water as the old ones do. Professor McInerney that contains a bit of theory and a list of different skirts with their pros and cons. Like shown on the picture, use these bisectors to reproduce the shape of the hull with a smaller ratio. A bag skirt can be designed to fit a variety of hull shapes. The two videos below show two skirts made with this tutorial - one for a RC hovercraft, the other for a homemade hovercraft, the Rusalka. Are you done cutting all your skirt pieces ? To check out the final steps and see how to stick this skirt under the hovercraft, you can check this page. Repeat this process to get all your dots. We will continue the tutorial with older drawings. 1. Please take a few seconds to share diy-hovercraft.com with your friends : it will help us a lot ! 6. With a compass, measure the length of the arc marked in red. Hovercraft skirts feature an inventive quick-change system that allows the pilot to replace skirt segments in the field without the need for any tools whatsoever. Good luck ! Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. or jack-up the craft. You finally have your custom vented bag skirt set on your hovercraft / RC hovercraft. In this paper, a novel global sliding mode controller (GSMC) with a comprehensive observer is used to solve the problems of time-varying coefficients, modeling errors and disturbance with unknown upper bound in the trajectory tracking control of the air-cushion vehicle (ACV). that will be operated over water you will probably opt for the smooth Air is supplied to the plenum by a lift fan A skirt according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each panel of the inner bag has a single skirt finger attached to it. The initial cost My goal is to democratize RC hovercrafts and general knowledge about hovercrafts. The Way To Construct A Hovercraft. deformed. Overlapping of adjacent panels also offers the benefit of a stronger multi-layer structure without having to laminate layers together (as is often the case in conventional inner bags, which increases the cost and stiffness). Checkmate Flexible Engineering is, arguably, the worlds leading manufacturer of air cushion vehicle skirt components, including parts for hovercraft and surface effect ships. Integrating advanced technology with skilled craftsmanship, each individual skirt segment is hand-fabricated to meet high quality standards. The second picture shows the final result of two 45 corners facing each other.