SmartInversion

Year

2012

The idea

The flying object moves through the air by turning itself inside out.

The objective

SmartInversion comprises an airborne chain of linkage elements powered by inversion.

Technical data

• Edge length: 182 cm
• Helium volume: 2.130 m3
• Weight: 2334 g
• Structure: carbon fibre tubing
• Drive: proportional servo motors
• Power supply: lithium polymer battery, 8.4 V, 450 mAh
• Flight time: approx. 15 min

Operating principle

In the late 1920s, the Swiss anthroposophist and artist Paul Schatz (1898-1979) dissected a cube into two star-shaped bodies with an articulated central ring of six members. The result was a cubic belt that could constantly be turned inside out. This phenomenon of technical inversion led to the development of the airborne cubic belt called SmartInversion.

Structure

The lightweight cubic belt consists of six identical helium-filled prisms, each comprising two carbon-fibre spacing rods in the interior and four carbon-fibre edge rods on the outside, enclosed by a gastight envelope membrane.

Movement

The SmartInversion flying object has a pulsating inversion drive: it turns itself inside out by rhythmically alternating between diastole and systole – i.e. between expansion and contraction.

Material

SmartInversion