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Integration of Wind Propulsion in an Electric ASV

  • Nuno A. CruzEmail author
  • José C. AlvesEmail author
  • Tiago Guedes
  • Rômulo Rodrigues
  • Vitor Pinto
  • Daniel Campos
  • Duarte Silva
Conference paper
First Online:

Abstract

This paper describes the steps taken to integrate wind propulsion in the Zarco ASV, a small size electric powered catamaran. In terms of hardware, the original structure of the vehicle has been enlarged to accommodate one or more sails, and the proper interfaces have been included to allow measurement of wind speed and direction and independent sail actuation. The sails are lightweight rigid wings assembled from a core of balsa wood, reinforced with aluminum and epoxy. Each sail angle can be controlled by a servo, commanded by the main CPU and taking into account the wind speed and direction, as well as the lift and drag curves of the wing sails, according to some predefined control strategy.

Keywords

Computational Fluid Dynamics Lift Force Propulsion System Roll Moment Balsa Wood 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This work is financed by the ERDF—European Regional Development Fund through the COMPETE Programme (operational programme for competitiveness) and by National Funds through the FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project “FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-037281”. The authors are also thankful to the anonymous reviewers who provided valuable suggestions to improve the final version of the manuscript.

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Nuno A. Cruz
    • 1
    Email author
  • José C. Alves
    • 1
    Email author
  • Tiago Guedes
    • 2
  • Rômulo Rodrigues
    • 2
  • Vitor Pinto
    • 2
  • Daniel Campos
    • 2
  • Duarte Silva
    • 2
  1. 1.FEUP/INESC TECPortoPortugal
  2. 2.FEUPPortoPortugal

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