Mast Force Monitoring in Racing Yachts
The Problem:
To succeed in racing, yachts have to achieve maximum performance and the forces acting upon a yacht's mast can give an indication on how efficient the sail is performing.
The Solution:
A carbon fibre free-standing yacht mast had four sets of strain gauges fitted fore, aft, port & starboard. Four DSC digital load cell conditioning cards were buried in the mast and a single four core cable brought back to a graphical display mounted in the cockpit of the yacht. The gauges were calibrated by applying known forces in all four directions. Alarm levels were also added to give an audible warning from the display unit in the event of the mast being over strained.
The benefits of the DSC meant that a single four core cable could be brought from the mast to the cockpit instead of the sensitive strain gauge wires. The small size of the DSC's allowed them to be buried inside the carbon fibre structure of the mast.
Products used in this application:
