| 摘要 |
A flexible wing-sail for wind-propelled vehicles includes a mast to be rotatably mounted in a vertical position on the vehicle, a plurality of flexible sail panels carried by the mast, and a spreader assembly secured to battens in the sail panels for securing them to the mast and for imparting to them an airfoil shape having a leading edge fore of the mast, and a trailing edge aft of the mast. The spreader assembly includes a fixed spreader unit secured to the sail panels at the bottom of the wing-sail and fixing it to the bottom of the mast, and a plurality of slidable spreader units secured to the sail panels at longitudinally spaced locations and slidable along the mast to permit hoisting and reefing the wing-sail. The wing-sail further includes a boom pivotally coupled to the bottom of the mast and having a sliding coupling with respect to the sail panels at the trailing edge of the wing-sail, and a brake for selectively locking the mast against rotation, such that pivoting the boom while the mast is locked, changes the curvature of the airfoil shape defined by the sail panels. |
