zlacker

>>duck+(OP)
I really didn't grasp the size of that drone. It is not a little model boat, it is a ship. This video shows it being launched, and includes images of what it looks like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ-uYy9Ap8A

>>Joachi+Tg
That's a larger model, this is the earlier Saildrone Explorer mentioned in that video. The vessel they are launching is 72 feet long, this one is 23 feet. So not a model boat, but not large either.

>>ezzaf+Mh
Could somebody please TL;DR the wing design (of the big boat) for me? The one with the additional extra wing?

>>fho+vi
The hurricane wing? It's smaller.

https://www.saildrone.com/news/tropical-atlantic-hurricane-m...

>>maxeri+vj
Ah ok ... no I was asking about the full size wing with that second wing attached to it.

>>fho+sk
Think it's like an elevator on airplane controls the angle of the big one.

Easier to rotate the wing than a motor at the root of the big wing.

>>jcun41+rD
Ooooh ... smart! Now ... I wonder if I can do the same thing for my 3D printed (hobby-) VAWTs!

>>fho+wK
I think those have some kind of centrifugal pitch control with a linkage (based on RPM), might have to look at existing designs.

There are some helicopter blades that have this same idea, a little moving thing to control the pitch of the rotor over a swash plate

>>jcun41+KK
That's a safety feature as much as it is an efficiency feature, it allows you to safely furl the blades when you are overspeeding, you can't rely on anything that isn't directly connected to the rotor base because it might be jammed, damaged, out of power or missing entirely. The blades governing themselves is the ideal, the linkage is there for synchronization and balance purposes only.