My New Parachute

[EddieJ710]

Absolutely nothing to do with rocketry, but I find that rocketry geeks love parachutes of all types.

This is my favorite toy at the moment. I have about 100 jumps on her.

This is a Valkyrie 90 (sq ft), made by Performance Designs Inc. It's a newer style, high performance parachute made for high performance canopy piloting. Same canopy, just different lighting conditions. The difference in shape is due to the brakes being released in one picture (lighter shade) and not in the other.

Enjoy.

 

[SpaceManMat]

How many Gs do you cop when thing opens?

 

[EddieJ710]

How many Gs do you cop when thing opens?

You'd be surprised how comfortable the openings are. Smooth and controlled. I've never taken data on the opening shock, but I have GPS based data collectors that I could use to

This isn't my video, but it shows a Vakyrie opening.

[video=youtube;-zn1fqsFrlc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zn1fqsFrlc[/video]

And another video that Performance Designs put together with sponsored athletes jumping and talking about the wing.

[video=youtube;rrr4BlBLFTY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrr4BlBLFTY[/video]

 

[TangoJuliet]

Now if we could just scale these down to maybe MPR size, then attach servos to make them controllable back to the launch pad. :wink:

 

[dhbarr]

Now if we could just scale these down to maybe MPR size, then attach servos to make them controllable back to the launch pad. :wink:

Buy a kite and use a JLCR? The problem would be the glide.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Well, there are R/C Sky Divers already, and I'm sure one of those could be adapted. I'm not sure they're quite small enough, or reliable enough yet.

 

[Handeman]

I've built a scaled down 7 cell chute similar to the OPs. The chute and the servos work great, getting it to deploy without tangling is a whole different matter.

You have to remember that man rated chutes like that are packed in flat backpacks where the whole backpack opens and the chute deploys from the same basic position and air flow everytime. The packing techniques for the chute is based on the backpack size bag and the fact the man should be in a face down position at deployment. In a rocket, the chute has to fit into a cylinder and deploy from an end and you have no positive control of what direction the deployment will occur. That requires designing a whole new way of packing and deploying the chute. I've only tried 5 flights so far, zippered one fiberglassed tube while under drogue and the chute didn't open, and haven't had a clean deployment yet.

It all sounds simple, but if anyone comes up with a way to consistently deploy the chute from a rocket that can be in any orientation and get a consistent opening, let me know how you do it.