Carter Smart Strut

skyguynca

Gold Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2004
Messages
1,413
Location
Acampo, CA
Aircraft
depends on what I have sold recently
Total Flight Time
5000+
Has anyone heard when Carter might release the strut for sales? or a approximate price??

Thanks
 
According to what I understand from reading their site they want to license the technology to others so I wouldn't expect to see it unless the Monarch people sell it as a part or someone else licenses it and builds them too. They are Really Impressive aren't they !!
 
Apparently the trick is in the valve(ing?). I believe their U.S. patent can be found thru Google or it may be listed on their web site. I haven't looked at it for a while.
 
Dean, i searched it, but didnt find it. Maybe i'd look better.
maybe in the valve.. attack choppers have that kind of landing gear, they can fall from about 60 ft (i think) whithout lethal injury.
But what has this one more than others... you can find a similar system on the WW2 german plane Fieseler Storch... and others..
thanks
 
That thing seems, to me, ugly and useless; and may be dangerous: all that thing hanging underneath, lowering the center of drag!
 
I think the trick is about the substance... note that on the link i gave :
Visplex* a fluid used in oil-drilling, jelly-consistent but turns to liquid if shaked or shocked... then you dont really need a complex valve, a simple one, the first landing shock liquifies the substance, then it releases through the piston.

the gain must be to absorb the initial shock then, release smoothly, while traditionnal shock absorbers may "harden" when compressed only...

do they sell it yet?
 
Anybody remember that show from the late 90s called "Beyond 2000"? That was back when the Discovery Channel actually had some interesting programming instead of this "Oh Let's Paint The Room" crap they only show now. There was a substance they did a story on that would change from a liquid to a gel the instant a small current of electricity was passed through it. Wonder what ever happed to that stuff, or if any practical applications were found. But I would surmise that a magnetic induction coil arrangement could be designed on the landing gear itself, such that the quicker the reflex the higher the immediate current, and as the gear reflex slowed at the bottom of the landing less current would be generated. This would instantly regulate (in real time) the amount of viscosity change needed to operate, as the gel's viscosity would change in direct proportion to the landing gear's vertical travel speed.

Just a thought... gotta keep those brain cells fired up.

Brian Jackson
 
Zeeoo, didn't see your post. I may have my thinking backwards... perhaps a voltage "reverser" in relation to gear travel.
 
RotoPix said:
Just a thought... gotta keep those brain cells fired up
some things get used if we dont use... ( i mean brain, brian)

lectrical regul, why not, IMHO they found a mechanical mean, because if you loose the generator or battery.. ay ay ay for landing.

The mystery of the strut....coming soon on your screen :D
 
Variable torque/force was experimented with by a Japanese company a few years ago by a "shiftless transmission". It was mechanically simple, involving 2 long, slender cone shaped shafts, one over the other, and pointing in opposite directions. They were connected by an elastic belt that was freely allowed to slide left or right, depending on the torque required. This had the effect of changing gears, except the "gearing" was infinitely variable by the smoothly changing diameters of a cone-shaped shaft.

The coned sections weren't straight-edged, but rather very shallow parabolic curves. This made the belt stay centered at a specific point along the length (the analog being a specific gear-ratio). If my memory serves, as more or less torque was needed, the angle between the 2 opposing conical shafts would change just enough to cause the belt to find the path of least resistance: the minimal distance. That's why they were lathed in the shape of a parabola.

I would have been interested to know what ever came from (or became of) these trials.

Brian Jackson
 
I have visited lots of sites about those smart inventions and principles.. i'll post some if i recall them, you'd like them.
Watch my last subject :
https://membres.lycos.fr/splitcycle/
sorry it is in french, but i will just translate one sentence :
"a 50 cm3 engine has the same torque as a v8 ferrari with 478 HP : 59.6 m.kg à 4000 tr/min. "
he talks about a weight of 90 lbs :eek: ... i dont imagine the price yet but...
more to come
cheers

edit : it is an australian inventor https://www.splitcycle.com.au/
 
Last edited:
I read the patent and it sounded like an air charged olio strut to me. I couldn't figure how it anticipated the g loadings. It seems to work. Thank you, Vance
 
Hi Vance, did the patent say something about the filling ? perhaps the trick is there.
They talk about "variable viscosity", i dont think they should have mentionned that whithout any reason..
thanks Vance
 
Vance, where did you find the design information for it, or the patent description?

Thanks David
 
James (mcbirdman) posted the adress on the tread "Little Wing 5". It is important to realise that when reading a patent that they are suposed to be written in that strange 19th century style. Thank you, Vance
 
Last edited:
Thanks,
i had the intuition of that, apparently, it is a double chamber, one for teh early shock, releasing through another second, for the rest of the shock.
If some one interested in that kind of stuff, check "messier-bugatti" landing gears, fitted on the tiger chopper, it allow a landing at a RoD of 6 m/s without any damage.;

cheers
 
I am really just interested in buying two
 
Back
Top