Quote:
Originally Posted by miket
If the bottom is going to be rigid folding panel i could make the sides top and back rigid folding panels too and not mess with the inflationary stuff??. If i connect a rope and pulleys to the ends of the panels they'll pull together and unfold/extend. How advantageous is it to have 5 of the sides smoothly curved from inflation instead of more flat?(cap has 2 sides too) Of course theres the hybrid version with folding panels inside the base of the tail and an inflatable piece for the tip. That could give me the tailgate storage space if i desire it.
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miket,the panels could be flat and just perform with less efficiency than a perfect organic form.
Flow might separate and re-attach creating locked vortices which are known to provide some drag mitigation.Even "bad" boat-tails appear to provide some benefit through a process I call 'stuffing the wake,'whereas the act of filling the turbulent wake with 'anything' seems to displace some of the physical void,pushing the 'base' out closer towards the more energetic flow field.
There is no hard and fast rule as to 'how' to do the tail but it should be air-tight,and they work best with a back on them.
I think of mine like a segmented ironing-board which drops out of a wall,hinged at half-length,with an additional section which flips up to form the 'end.'
Everything else is the envelope which is inflated during deployment,and evacuated during the stowing operation,triggered by a cruise-control,automatic ,speed-sensor/logic/enable-dis-enable-slaved servo-motor,fan set,and reversing valve.
Normally-open/normally-closed momentary micro-switches provide 'proof' to system.