Retractable hydrofoil system for multi-hull vessel
AssigneeHangzhou Sino Eagle Yacht Co., Ltd.
InventorsYing Xiong, Jure Zule, ShuKa Fan, LiangGang He, Christopher Peart
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A multi-hull marine vessel includes a retractable hydrofoil system having a pair of retractable foils mounted to deploy from opposite sides of a tunnel defined between adjacent hulls. The foils are pivotably mounted to respective bottoms of the hulls and retract behind respective steps formed therein.
Claims18
A marine vessel with a retractable hydrofoil system, the vessel comprising:
- at least two connected hulls extending in a length direction between forward and aft ends and defining a tunnel therebetween, each hull including at least one step between the forward and aft ends, a bottom of each hull being disposed vertically higher aft of each step than forward of each step;
- at least two foils, each foil being pivotally mounted below a waterline along an inner side of a respective one of the hulls that faces the tunnel, each foil being moveable between a deployed position extending downwardly and inwardly from the hull toward the other foil to a coplanar orientation across the tunnel, and a retracted position in which the foil is folded upwardly within a recess of the respective hull formed aft of the step such that no portion of the foil extends beyond a profile of the hull.
A method of operating a hydrofoil system of a multi-hull marine vessel, the method comprising:
- deploying a pair of foils each pivotally mounted along an inner side of a respective hull below a waterline from opposite sides of a tunnel defined between adjacent hulls of the marine vessel such that distal sections of the foils extend inwardly toward each other beneath the tunnel and are aligned across a width of the tunnel in a coplanar orientation;
- and
- retracting each foil upwardly within a recess of the respective hull aft of a step such that no portion of the foil extends beyond a profile of the hull.
A marine vessel with a retractable hydrofoil system, the vessel comprising:
- at least two connected hulls extending in a length direction between forward and aft ends and defining a tunnel therebetween, each hull including at least one step between the forward and aft ends;
- at least two opposed foils, each foil being pivotally mounted below a waterline to an inner tunnel side of a respective hull and movable between a retracted position entirely within a profile of the respective hull and received in a recess formed aft of the step and a deployed position extending downwardly and inwardly from the hull toward the other foil, with distal sections of the foils aligned across the tunnel width and coplanar.
A marine vessel with a retractable hydrofoil system, the vessel comprising:
- at least two connected hulls extending in a length direction between forward and aft ends, each hull including at least one step between the forward and aft ends, a bottom of each hull being disposed vertically higher aft of each step than forward of each step;
- and
- at least two foils, each of the foils being pivotably mounted to the bottom a respective one of the hulls aft of the step, each of the foils being movable between a retracted position, in which the foil extends along the bottom of the hull aft of the step and up an inner side of the respective one of the hulls facing the other hull, and a deployed position, in which the foil extends downwardly from the bottom of the hull and toward the other foil;
- wherein each foil includes a pivot structure pivotably mounted to the bottom of the respective one of the hulls, a proximal foil section connected to the pivot structure, and a distal foil section extending at an angle of less than 180 degrees from the proximal foil section;
- wherein each foil further includes a distal tip extending upwardly from the distal foil section in the deployed position.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.