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Hangtime kite design software

introduction

Hangtime is my kite design software application, and it is available for free download.

The thinking behind the application is to build good kites using just a few panels for less sewing time and more flying...

Note: The software is in the early stages of development and has not been well tested, so there are no guarantees! I will document my success (or otherwise!) here when I have made a kite using the output from the application.

Note 2: Printing directly to a printer does not print out the inflatable parts of the kite - better to export to dxf for now! I will sort out the printing at some point.

If you make a kite using the software, please let me know!

download

Full Installation (1.7 MB) ~ Executable Only (628 KB). Download the executable to your hard drive and run it, if it doesn't work you may need to download the full installation which installs all the required support files on your machine. To use the full installation, save the Hangtime.zip file to your hard drive, then unzip it using Winzip or similar, and run 'Setup.exe'.

Email me if you have problems. Latest Version Compiled 21/07/04. Note - This is very much a beta release, and I haven't built a kite from the output yet, so no guarantees!!!

Instructions. Some instructions for using the application, and a bit of theory on kite design...

enhancements

  • July 04 - Thanks to Stelios Alexandrakis I have now added FEM modelling of the canopy curve. The FEM modelled canopy appears in red in the canopy panel of the kite settings dialogue.
  • May 04 - Added 'import profile' function. Works for some profiles and not others. Imported profiles can be used as a guide for panel / rib shaping. Most of the SurfPlan profiles seem to work ok.
  • May 04 - Added inflatable rib struts. These are two piece 'profile' struts.
  • May 04 - Added a canopy seam line to the leading edge panels for orientation.
  • May 04 - Added orientation text to the dxf output file.
  • Apr 04 - Added support for 'smooth' inflatable leading edge, which uses long thin panels running tip to tip. The 3D visualization of these shows an angular LE tube, but this should become round when inflated. The more panels used the smoother the tube, as always, but less panels = less sewing and less chances for sewing errors, so there will be a happy medium somewhere. My guess is that 4 panels will give good results.
  • Apr 04 - Fixed LE panel bugs, added a visual indicator of the LE seam angle
  • Apr 04 - Added support for different centre / tip profiles, plus profile morphing
  • Apr 04 - Added 3D rendering view
  • Apr 04 - LE seam angle can be defined by the user
  • Apr 04 - LE panel bug fixed
  • Apr 04 - Rib profiles are now printed - the output prints every eighth rib profile which gives one central rib plus four on each side of the kite. The ribs line up with the lines drawn on the panels.
  • Apr 04 - Increased line width in printed output from one pixel to five - makes it easier to trace the lines
  • Apr 04 - Fixed bug that was scaling everything up by a factor of two
  • Mar 04 - Inflatable leading edge panels are now output to the dxf file, but I haven't checked the panel shapes for accuracy. They look about right...
  • Mar 04 - Added an option to switch between Letter, A4 and A3 paper sizes
  • Mar 04 - Started adding support for inflatable leading edge, it is now possible to specify the LE tube diameter and the sail angle, but I am still working on developing the LE panel shapes
  • Mar 04 - Added print preview and printing support. This is still a bit flakey... Panels are overlayed one on top of the other
  • Mar 04 - Colour coded kite views for easy identification of the different parts...
  • Mar 04 - Enhanced dxf output so that ribs are drawn as well as top skin. This should now provide enough information to build a kite from the output. There are 40 ribs for each half of the kite, use as many as required. The ribs line up with the circles drawn on the canopy panels
  • Mar 04 - Added 'Profile Smoothing' to output rib profiles. Drag the red handles in the 'kite settings' dialogue to shape the rib profile. The smoothed profile should follow the panel shapes closely, and is the shape that the ribs will be printed to
  • Mar 04 - Application Created!

screenshots









The images above are screen dumps taken from the application. The little squares act as controls that I can drag to define the shapes. The canopy curve is a bezier curve, and the planform is elliptical. Obviously the aerofoil section is crude because the kite will be made of just four panels, but I hope that the flat surfaces that make up the aerofoil will deform to a smooth curve when the kite is in the air. The red handles model the expected aerofoil section.

The CAD output includes 5 rib sections (4 for each half of the kite plus one central rib) that match the shape of the smoothed profile in the 'Kite settings' dialogue. I will add a facility to specify rib spacing in a later version if the design works!

CAD Output...

The application is written in Visual Basic 6 so you will need the VB runtime stuff on your machine to run it...

Future Developments

  • 'Plumbing' style ribs for tube kites
  • Double skin profiles (for foils)
  • Bridle calculator for foils
  • Add seam allowances to the output
  • Add more orientation text to the output
  • Add a profile import facility for common profiles (NACA etc.)
  • Add support for different panel layouts (segmented, mixed segmented/spanwise etc.)

In case you wondered, standard disclaimers apply, esp. the bit about no warranty, expressed or implied, please don't use this software for mission-critical, people-will-die-if-it-has-a-bug applications, etc, etc. Don't install it on the same server you use for air-traffic control systems, remote fly-by-wire medical operations etc. Kite safely, don't use my software to design a parachute! You know the drill.

Contact me! redhot@freeuk.com