Guest Mike261 Posted January 21, 2015 Report Posted January 21, 2015 Check out this video, imagine wings that repel water... www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLegmQ8_dHg mike Quote
ArtVandelay Posted January 21, 2015 Report Posted January 21, 2015 Check out this video, imagine wings that repel water... www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLegmQ8_dHg mike Cool stuff, I wonder what affect the micro laser etching would have on friction of the air passing over the surface Quote
aviatoreb Posted January 21, 2015 Report Posted January 21, 2015 Cool! My question with these for the aviation application is how durable will the treatment be over time? Quote
Guest Mike261 Posted January 21, 2015 Report Posted January 21, 2015 I wondered about the airflow myself, I also wonder if the etching could be used to control air instead of stall strips, or increase lift. cool stuff Quote
Mooneymite Posted January 21, 2015 Report Posted January 21, 2015 That is a real break-through! I wonder what the effect of dust/contaminants will have on the surface. Does it have to stay clean to do it's magic? I also wonder whether snow could just build up on it since it is a solid, not a liquid, then allow ice to form on top..... Quote
Jeff_S Posted January 21, 2015 Report Posted January 21, 2015 Yeah, pretty cool. I want me some of those laser safety goggles that one dude was wearing. I suppose, though, that it wouldn't work with painted surfaces because it would repel the paint just like water. That would make all our color schemes obsolete. Quote
Guest Mike261 Posted January 21, 2015 Report Posted January 21, 2015 I wonder if the etching could be done right in the paint, or maybe an etched film applied to the leading edges. Quote
Hank Posted January 21, 2015 Report Posted January 21, 2015 Whether it's etched into bare or painted metal, what would surface protectants like wax or even thinner films like Wash-n-Wax leaves behind do to it? Quote
jetdriven Posted January 21, 2015 Report Posted January 21, 2015 Someone on Beechtalk tried that, it lasts less than an hour. Quote
ArtVandelay Posted January 21, 2015 Report Posted January 21, 2015 That is a real break-through! I wonder what the effect of dust/contaminants will have on the surface. Does it have to stay clean to do it's magic? I also wonder whether snow could just build up on it since it is a solid, not a liquid, then allow ice to form on top..... I'm no Phd but, here goes: Liquid water has a unique property, surface tension due to the molecular bond. I don't think ice has that property so it wouldn't work. I think it's the surface tension that causes the water to ride on top of the surface grooves, thus much less friction. Quote
Hank Posted January 22, 2015 Report Posted January 22, 2015 Someone on Beechtalk tried that, it lasts less than an hour. I thought they tried to apply a hydrophobic coating to their plane. This seems to be laser-etched into the wing surface, not sprayed on. Quote
jetdriven Posted January 22, 2015 Report Posted January 22, 2015 yes, I should have watched the video. Busted. Quote
Piloto Posted January 22, 2015 Report Posted January 22, 2015 About a year ago I made an experiment on the hydrophobic spray coating for water repellent sold at Home Depot. It works like the one in the video except at freezing temperatures. I coated a piece of aluminum with the hydrophobic coating put a little bit of water on it and put in the refrigerator freezer. After two hours the ice stuck to the surface just like regular ice do. Notice that on the video the surface is at room temperature. Water properties changes when in contact with freezing surfaces, it becomes a solid! It forms to the surface shape just like ice on the road. José Quote
aaronk25 Posted January 22, 2015 Report Posted January 22, 2015 Get real.....we got 60 year old engines and a wing that hasn't changed in 50 years.... The government will stop any future innovation by over regulating it making the cost prohibitive. Same as a 60k set of weeping panels what a joke. Quote
mooniac15u Posted January 22, 2015 Report Posted January 22, 2015 Superhydrophobicity of micro- and nano-textured surfaces is not a new phenomenon. The basic principle has been reasonably well understood since the 1940s. The effect is related to preserving a relatively large angle between the droplet edge and the surface. It sounds like this group may be working on optimizing the shape and scale of the surface structure. As far as icing, there has been some recent research that found some superhydrophobic surfaces tend to resist icing, although it doesn’t appear to relate directly to the same factors that increase hydrophobicity. Quote
jetdriven Posted January 22, 2015 Report Posted January 22, 2015 Get real.....we got 60 year old engines and a wing that hasn't changed in 50 years.... The government will stop any future innovation by over regulating it making the cost prohibitive. Same as a 60k set of weeping panels what a joke. Those panels were 30K until about 2 years ago. they suddenly doubled in cost. No product improvement, no financial hardship of the company, they just decided to sell half as many sets for the same cash. Quote
aaronk25 Posted January 22, 2015 Report Posted January 22, 2015 Those panels were 30K until about 2 years ago. they suddenly doubled in cost. No product improvement, no financial hardship of the company, they just decided to sell half as many sets for the same cash. If there still is a viable market and 1/2 of the customers willing to buy at a lower price then where is the competition? Everyone wants to sell ? Quote
aviatoreb Posted January 22, 2015 Report Posted January 22, 2015 If there still is a viable market and 1/2 of the customers willing to buy at a lower price then where is the competition? Everyone wants to sell ? Wow- they DOUBLED the price?! Gulp. I guess that makes the value of my airplane go up. They are essentially the only game in town for many airplanes, thanks to the FAA effective-anti-innovation monopoly. Anyone who actually succeeds to climb to the mountain top like Cav Aero has done, can enjoy a complete monopoly. From a business perspective, I bet it is shrewd for them to double their price. I doubt they will loose revenue and I bet they will gain. I bet they will retain more than half of their 30k business even at 60k. And don't forget the cost of the units plus install - by doubling their purchase cost they are likely significantly (quadruple?) increasing their revenue. Quote
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