Envelope Demo – preparations

So we are now trying to build envelope coming with shape around something like this:

As you may see it is quite simple concept of joining two ellipsoids with interlaced cylinder reaching maximum diameter of 2m. So the front part is traditional ellipsoid with w=2.5 (A), followed by a central cylinder w=1 (B), closed by another ellipsoid of w=3 (C). The plan is to buckle in the ellipsoid A so it will all end up being ~6m long.

The idea is to do a 5:1 scaled model and send it to Windreiter guys for review and a quote. To be able to do so, we actually need to draw parts which we can glue together next. Here we’ll be using classical pie/rugby-ball seems method, hoping that it will all work out when inflated.

Having a radius of 1m, maximum circumference comes to 6.28.

C=2πr=2·π·1≈6.28319

Divided by 6 to get height of each part we are getting h=1m. Scaling down 5:1 this is 20cm + 2cm for seem we have the first parameter 22cm.

With the W – part A this is going to be half-ellipse of -> 52cm (scaled 2.5m/5 + 2cm for seems), part B is a simple cylinder of 20cm and part C is -> 62cm (scaled 3m/5 + 2cm for seems).

To get this transformed this onto a paper, I prepared myself a tiny Excell helper (with another help from here). Where X is calculated with =B$2*COS(RADIANS($A5)) and Y =B$1*SIN(RADIANS($A5)).

Ellipse A:

H22.00
W52.00
axy
052.000.00
1051.213.82
2048.867.52
3045.0311.00
4039.8314.14
5033.4216.85
6026.0019.05
7017.7920.67
809.0321.67
900.0022.00
100-9.0321.67
110-17.7920.67
120-26.0019.05
130-33.4216.85
140-39.8314.14
150-45.0311.00
160-48.867.52
170-51.213.82
180-52.000.00
190-51.21-3.82
200-48.86-7.52
210-45.03-11.00
220-39.83-14.14
230-33.42-16.85
240-26.00-19.05
250-17.79-20.67
260-9.03-21.67
2700.00-22.00
2809.03-21.67
29017.79-20.67
30026.00-19.05
31033.42-16.85
32039.83-14.14
33045.03-11.00
34048.86-7.52
35051.21-3.82
36052.000.00

Ellipse B:

H22.00
W62.00
axy
062.000.00
1061.063.82
2058.267.52
3053.6911.00
4047.4914.14
5039.8516.85
6031.0019.05
7021.2120.67
8010.7721.67
900.0022.00
100-10.7721.67
110-21.2120.67
120-31.0019.05
130-39.8516.85
140-47.4914.14
150-53.6911.00
160-58.267.52
170-61.063.82
180-62.000.00
190-61.06-3.82
200-58.26-7.52
210-53.69-11.00
220-47.49-14.14
230-39.85-16.85
240-31.00-19.05
250-21.21-20.67
260-10.77-21.67
2700.00-22.00
28010.77-21.67
29021.21-20.67
30031.00-19.05
31039.85-16.85
32047.49-14.14
33053.69-11.00
34058.26-7.52
35061.06-3.82
36062.000.00

Of course we’ll use just a part of those ellipses getting:

And:

Now let’s get practical!

6 thoughts on “Envelope Demo – preparations

  1. Sounds like the wrong approach. Why not a plain cylinder – vastly more volume, vastly less complicated, and since you’re not pushing through any air (rather – tunneling the air through it) a cyl would be more efficient as well, right?

    1. Thanks Chris, well the aim of this exercise is to prepare “how to” for the Windreiter guys to get us a proper envelope. So while cylinder would probably do, I though that giving it bit more blimpy shape would be better. 🙂

  2. FYI – That’s called the “sheet metal workspace” in Fusion360 – which also lets you do the overlapping seams, folds (which you can fold or unfold to work on in the software), and so forth and can output to a laser cutter when you’re ready to glue…

    1. Yep! I saw something similar in Blender and it wasn’t good at all, but I assume that Fusion 360 will be much higher quality. Can’t wait to give it a go! 🙂

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