The AIRFOIL, the heart of every fluid-dynamic machine...
Did you ever wonder about the significance of the simple but elegant, naturally beautiful shape called the Airfoil?
Believe it or not, this deceptively simple form is responsible for revolutionizing the future of every machine or device that dynamically interacts with a fluid, be it liquid or gas, water or air, in the same way that the circle revolutionized the future of land transport... !
The cross-sectional shape of the blades of rotodynamic machines, i.e., machines that work on the principle of the dynamics of flow over physical objects... propellers, compressors, pumps, fans, turbines, to name a few... is an airfoil in every case.
The wings of airplanes ranging from the Wright Flyer to modern supersonic aircraft are again generated from airfoil sections.
This single outline, this ridiculously basic closed-loop sketch, in every example cited above and more, is one of the most crucial factors determining the performance of the machine, when all is said and done.
The airfoil is experiencing a revival in some of the most unlikely spheres of sporting arenas... sailboats and other sail-driven craft are now being designed with so called "wing-sails", which is essentially a refinement of the active sail section to a more efficient airfoil cross-section. The result is a performance boost that would not have been realized any other way, breaking all paradigms that existed thus far.
Other sailboats are focusing on performance boost by way of drag reduction, by lifting the hull clear out of the water with hydrofoil "wings", again breaking previously assumed speed barriers.
So why talk about airfoils here... because every design featured on this site will have to do with airfoils, and we are fascinated by this shape so much that we are adopting this as our logo...!
Our first featured product, the AquaSkipper, uses a most elegant and advanced airfoil section to ensure that your muscle power is converted into lift and thrust with nothing but an amazing, fixed wing (or foil) structure, so efficiently that you can approach the world speed record for human powered boats!