Powerboat Suspension System

Hi all,

I am a graduate student at Lehigh University and am currently in the Master's of Engineering program in Technical Entrepreneurship. I have registered an account on this forum to ask for your help with one of my latest projects.

My group is working with Professor Joachim Grenestedt to see how we can help him commercialize his patented boat suspension technology and would highly appreciate your help in filling out a brief survey.

See Patent:

https://www.google.com/patents/US82...a=X&ei=5lzVUuWPJ_SksQT1jYGwBg&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAA

See Survey:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vWnLcQTWm3kHug2bKv42LQ-83TJJJ7BfnsePeoRNPkU/viewform

Please feel free to add your thoughts. Thank you!

 

It's a really complicated, an heavy, system. You should check what designers like the Gougeon brothers did. They used a flexible beam which does all the same work without all the mechanical nightmare.

 

And the questionnaire is not very well done. The question about addressing the injuries should be about addressing the cause for the injuries. Now you are asking if its important to see a doc after a spinal injury....

And how about the suspended boat, do you really mean that the price categories are for the whole boat? $15,000 is rather cheap...

Besides those the actual question choices are not the smartest imo.
Bad questionnaires are a waste of everybody's time

 

I also question how defendable that patent is. Adapting double wishbone suspension from cars just by replacing wheel with sponson is not novel enough imo.

 

Suspencion of multihull or monohull could be worth an investment if system would regenerate abrorbed impact energy to for example, electricity. In that case You have one true Hybrid boat. It is one challence to create a durable and also light simple system which can take serious impact forces and absorb impacts without making a crew seasick or even cause injuries due wrong damping and inteference against wave spectrum. Good luck with your intresting Master thesis.

 

I don't know if you are aware of this company. They seem to be far along in combining an active mechanical suspension with a boat.

http://www.nauti-craft.com/

I am quite interested in advancements in improving the ride of small powerboats. This comes from owning a small powerboat, getting bashed around in chop and thinking that there must be a better way. Typically, achieving a smooth ride in a boat is accomplished through hullform shape, with the deep-vee and catamaran shapes being the most common approaches. Still, there are limits to how good a the ride can be through hull form alone. I think the use of hydrofoils to achieve a smooth ride may be a more effective approach than trying to mimic the type of mechanical system seen in cars.


Then again maybe a with a clever design and good engineering a breakthrough can be made. Good luck with your project

 

Looks to me like this is for a racing hydroplane. Clearly the drawings indicate a model R/C hydro. I wonder if he feels the current field of unlimited hydros are not performing as well as they could. In my opinion this design would keep the sponsons in contact with the water a greater percentage of the time, greatly increasing drag and slowing them down. Suspension is already essentially designed into the sponsons and hull by way of limiting the area and placement of the flat planes.

 

I'm building a boat to test some suspension ideas.
It seems to me simple is a good thing.

 

Boston Whaler did this in a production model over 10 years ago:

http://www.chesapeakeboating.net/Media/Boat-Reviews/Boston-Whaler-320-Outrage.aspx


"The new 320 Outrage is available with an optional Active Deck Suspension System (ADSS) designed to alleviate the amount of impact you feel when you operate the boat in rough seas.

The sole beneath the helm seat is actually a platform that's hinged back by the transom with shock absorbers underneath. The shock absorbers are compressed air cylinders that automatically adjust to the amount of weight on the deck. You can control the ADSS with a switch on the dash that activates the air compressor, and adjusts the air pressure for a firmer or softer ride, depending upon sea conditions."