Oracle Boat's Inner Workings: Engineering A Racing Legend

how does the oracle boat work

The ORACLE TEAM USA boat is an engineering marvel and a data analytics machine. The boat is designed to boost its speed by flying above the water for most of the race, cutting drag and raising speeds. The yacht is fitted with a human-powered hydraulics system, which controls the wing sail, foils, jib sail, and other parts of the craft. The wing sail is covered in a shrink-wrapped film, with flaps like those on an aeroplane wing, adjustable for different wind conditions. The boat also has 400 aerodynamic pressure sensors, which provide important information on the flow around the rigid sail under various conditions, helping the crew to further optimise performance and manoeuvres.

Characteristics Values
Wing sail Covered in a shrink-wrapped film, with flaps like an airplane wing, adjustable for different wind conditions
Drag Reduced by one-third to one-half compared to the previous Oracle Team USA boat
Power Twice as much power as the previous Oracle Team USA boat
Sensors 1,000 sensors attached to various parts of the boat and crew's bodies
Data Generates up to a terabyte of data per sail
Aerodynamic pressure sensors 400 MEMs (micro-electro-mechanical systems) developed by Airbus
Hydrofoils Reduced weight and optimised shape to maximise boat speed
Human-powered hydraulics system Controls the wing sail, foils, jib sail, and other parts of the craft

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The Oracle boat's wing sail is covered in a shrink-wrapped film, with flaps like those on an aeroplane wing

The Oracle boat is an engineering marvel and a data analytics machine. The designers of the Oracle Team USA boat worked with engineers from Airbus to apply aerodynamics, special materials, and structured load calculations similar to those for the wings and wing tips of commercial aircraft.

The Oracle boat also uses lift generated over a hydrofoil suspended under the hull, like an underwater wing, to boost the boat out of the waves and make it fly. This reduces drag and raises speeds. The hydrofoils have been designed to reduce their weight and optimise their shape to maximise boat speed while safely supporting 10 to 15 tons of load.

The Oracle boat's human-powered hydraulics system controls the wing sail, foils, jib sail, and other parts of the craft.

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The Oracle boat uses data analytics, collecting information from 1,000 sensors

The Oracle boat is also an engineering marvel. Designers worked with engineers from partner Airbus to apply aerodynamics, special materials, and structured load calculations similar to those for the wings and wing tips of commercial aircraft. The wing sail, now covered in a shrink-wrapped film, has flaps like those on an airplane wing, adjustable for different wind conditions up and down the wing. The result is a reduction of the wing sail’s drag by one-third to one-half compared with Oracle Team USA’s boat for the America’s Cup finals four years ago, while producing about twice as much power.

The Oracle boat also uses a human-powered hydraulics system, which controls the wing sail, foils, jib sail, and other parts of the craft. The boat uses lift generated over a hydrofoil suspended under the hull to boost the boat up out of the waves and make it fly. Instead of pushing its hull through the water, the yacht skims the surface, riding on what look like little feet.

shunwild

The Oracle boat uses a human-powered hydraulics system to control the wing sail, foils, jib sail and other parts of the craft

The Oracle boat is also a data analytics machine. It's estimated that every time the yacht and its crew set sail, they generate as much as a terabyte of data, much of it video, collected from as many as 1,000 sensors attached to various parts of the boat and the crew's bodies. This data is fed into a powerful Oracle Exadata database for analysis. For example, about 400 aerodynamic pressure sensors have been added to the boat's wing sail. These Airbus-developed sensors, called MEMs (micro-electro-mechanical systems), provide important information on the flow around the rigid sail under various conditions, helping the crew to further optimise performance and manoeuvres.

shunwild

The Oracle boat uses a hydrofoil suspended under the hull to boost the boat out of the waves

The Oracle boat is an engineering marvel, with the designers of the latest Oracle Team USA boat working with engineers from Airbus to apply aerodynamics, special materials, and structured load calculations similar to those for the wings and wing tips of commercial aircraft. The Oracle boat uses a hydrofoil suspended under the hull to boost the boat out of the waves. This works like an underwater wing, cutting drag and raising speeds. Instead of pushing its hull through the water, the yacht skims the surface, riding on what look like little feet. The partners also developed a new design and manufacturing process for the hydrofoils that reduced their weight and optimised their shape to maximise boat speed while safely supporting 10 to 15 tons of load. The Oracle boat is also a data analytics machine, generating as much as a terabyte of data every time the yacht and its crew set sail.

shunwild

The Oracle boat's hydrofoils are designed to reduce weight and optimise shape to maximise boat speed

The Oracle boats hydrofoils are designed to reduce weight and optimise shape to maximise boat speed. The hydrofoils are suspended under the hull, like an underwater wing, and generate lift to boost the boat out of the waves and make it fly. This reduces drag and increases speed. The designers of the Oracle boats worked with engineers from Airbus to apply aerodynamics, special materials, and structured load calculations similar to those used for the wings and wing tips of commercial aircraft. The wing sail, covered in a shrink-wrapped film, has adjustable flaps like those on an airplane wing, which can be adjusted for different wind conditions up and down the wing. This results in a significant reduction in drag compared to previous Oracle boats, while producing twice as much power. The Oracle boats are also data analytics machines, generating up to a terabyte of data each time they set sail. This data is collected from 1,000 sensors attached to various boat and body parts and is fed into an Oracle Exadata database for analysis.

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Frequently asked questions

The Oracle boat is a data analytics machine, with 1000 sensors attached to various parts of the boat and the crew's bodies.

The sensors are called MEMs (micro-electro-mechanical systems).

The sensors provide important information on the flow around the rigid sail under various conditions.

The Oracle boat has a wing sail, which has flaps like an aeroplane wing, and a human-powered hydraulics system, which controls the wing sail, foils, jib sail, and other parts of the craft.

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