| 摘要 |
The invention is a soft wing sail consisting of membrane covering its both sides, between which a set of batten assemblies placed at vertical intervals, each extending from luff to leech, enabling the airfoil to retain a pre-engineered, variable and reversible asymmetrical working chordal profile. The batten assemblies include a draft member assembly composed of draft members of lengths varying in conformance to the pre-engineered chordal curvatures of the airfoil, batten channels and a luff member assembly. The interrelation and interaction of these components are such that when the airfoil is loaded from one side, the surface pressure transforms the chordal curvature of the windward side to its pre-designed shape, whereas the windward side transmits the loads to the leeward side to help transform it into a shape featuring a curvature pre-designed for the leeward surface, hence creating an asymmetrical chordal profile with different chordal curvatures on both sides. Upon tacking the airfoil, the previous load status and hence the geometrical status of the airfoil reverses. Owing to the vertical intervals in between the batten assemblies, the airfoil can be reefed in the manner of slab reefing, for which a novel method of reef typing is introduced, intending to provide further convenience in reef handling.
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