Sunday, January 18, 2015

Progress

Currently-configured suit with Mark II home-built convolute elbow section on the left, and on the right (in black/yellow) the off-the-rack, industrial hosing convolute elbow section (already tested on the sleeve testbed, but not yet on the suit under pressure) that is lighter, cheaper and simpler. SO suit Mark I was the essential suit without convolute elbows that gave essential function but limited mobility at operational pressures of up to 3.5psi: Mark II was same suit but with the home-constructed (on left) heavy convolutes that gave significantly better mobility at operating pressures; Mark III will be same suit with both lighter, cheaper and simpler convolutes (black/yellow) to give even better mobility at high suit pressures. Mark IV will be an entirely new suit with either these new elbow sections, or a different variety under construction & testing at present. We'll only give that new approach another month or so, then make the decision and build Mark IV; to make a flight at the end of the year, we have always to move ahead, even if only a little, every day.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Open House!

Our first Open House of 2015 was a lot of fun, with lots of visitors -- just a few shown in the photo above (click to enlarge) -- from Portland State University's Aerospace Society and Portland State University Rapid Prototyping Group. We also had a visiting marine historian from the Explorers Club (he's dived to over 13,000 feet in Russian submersibles) and a couple of people simply walking by the porch saw the interesting devices inside, and came in to see what was up. Great fun!