 |
 WigetW rks
A Company dedicated to the
commercialisation, production and marketing of Lippisch WIGs
What is Ground
Effect
Ever since the beginning
of manned flight, pilots have experienced something strange when
landing aircraft. Just before touchdown they feel as if the aircraft
doesn’t want to land, as if it is floating on a cushion of air; this
phenomenon is known as wing-in-ground
(WIG) effect or simply, ground effect. It has been known that
airfoils have improved performance in ground effects in the close
vicinity of ground or water.
 When
a wing
approaches a ground surface, two phenomena exist. These are referred to
as span
dominated and chord dominated ground effects. Span
dominated results in a reduction of
induced drag (D) and chord dominated, increased lift (L). In general,
as a wing approaches a surface the normal circulation pattern around
the wing is altered, trapping a cushion of air between the underside of
the wing and the surface. As a result of this, lift is increased since
the cushion provides the craft with a ‘boost’ in lift meaning less
energy is required to remain airborne. In addition, the tip vortices,
generated by the pressure differential between the upper and
lower surfaces of the wing, are forced outboard increasing the
effective span of the wing and leading once again to an increase in
lift. The overall
effect is
an increase of the L/D ratio. This ratio is a measure
for the efficiency of an
aircraft, which can be expressed as the amount of power, or thrust,
that is
required to propel a craft of its respective weight.
Aerodynamic
Efficiency and Operational Economy
Since thrust is for drag and weight is for lift, in stationary flight
this efficiency
is
expressed as the L/D ratio. As the L/D of a wing increases with decreasing
ground clearance, the craft becomes more efficient in ground effect.
When a wing generates positive
lift, the static pressure on the lower side of the wing is higher than
that on
the upper side. The
average pressure difference,
multiply by the surface area of a wing, is equal to the lift force. We
firmly believe that ground effect crafts will become common because of
their efficiency in ground effect, reduced
power requirement, increased cargo carrying capacity, safety,
speed and economy of construction and operation.
From
Flightship to WigetWorks - A
brief history of the company
 In 1997 a new Singapore company
called Flightship Ground Effect Pte
Ltd (FSS) was formed to engage Mr Hanno Fischer and his German
company Airfoil Development GmbH
(AFD) to build an 8-seater prototype ground effect craft called
FS8-001(Flightship-8
craft number 001) based on the AirFish Lippisch's reverse delta wing
design. FS8-001 was expected to meet the widespread
commercial demand for high-speed maritime transportation, and was
developed from 1998 to 2001 in Germany and successfully test flown in
the Netherlands as well as in Australia in 2002.
Following the successful test flights of the prototype FS8-001, a
decision by the board of FSS was made to start production of FS8 in
Cairns, Australia. A subsidiary production plant called Flightship Ground Effect Pty Ltd (FSA)
was formed in Australia and tasked to serial-produce the FS8 production
carfts based on
the tested prototype FS8-001.
From FS8 to AF8 (AirFish
8)
 Unfortunately, management
faults brought the
FS8 production venture into a failure. In view that
this prototype craft
FS8-001 is a well designed and
proven WIG craft, that has attracted significant worldwide attention,
and that the failure in Cairns can be best described as a management
failure rather than a product failure, thus this revolutionary
discovery of ground effect should not be disengaged. Building on the
excellent relationship
between
the
Singaporean shareholders and the German
designers, a new
company called WigetWorks Pte Ltd was
incorporated in Singapore in May 2004 under a new
shareholding structure with a different board, a new management and
a new engineering team.
WigetWorks subsequently bought over
all the
hard and soft assets from the liquidator of FSA, as well as the
prototype crafts including FS8-001, AirFish-3 and X-113. The prototype
FS8-001 was shipped from Cairns Australia to Singapore in 2005.
Thereafter FS8-001 was officially renamed as AirFish-8 (AF8) since August
2005, in line
with the original AirFish family of WIG crafts built by Mr. Hanno
Fischer. Since
then WigetWorks
owns the Intellectual patent and marketing rights of the wing-in-ground
effect
technologies for the AirFish family of WIG design.
 Since
the prototype AF8-001 was left in the
elements during the FSA days for an extended period of neglect, a major
refurbishment effort was made in Singapore by the newly established
WigetWorks' engineering team to re-instate the AF8-001 to the state of
flight
worthiness. The AF8-001 was successfully airborne again by our
consultant test pilot Peter Kalthoff in a series of
sea trials and ground effect test flights
started from February 5, 2007.
AF8-001 underwent a refurbishment program
in Singapore.
 123 Genting Lane #05-04 Yenom Industrial
Building Singapore 349574
|
|
