The functioning principle requires the opening and closing of large sail surfaces but the positioning of these at high altitudes makes unpractical a mutual nautical system because the control cables would risk getting tangled to the connection cable and for this same reason, aside from its weight, it is impossible to stretch an electrical cable to high altitudes to fuel motorization. The electrical requirements would then be such as to exclude the idea of solar panels.

The closing of the sail surfaces requires considerable energy which in TWIND technology is supplied by the wind’s own energy present at high altitudes

This innovation achieves this by basing itself on the single aerostatic module shown here in its principal components.

The aerostatic module is composed by two balloons filled with gas lighter than air, solidly tied to the cable and each equipped with a lower sail surface shaped like a parachute capable of sliding on the cable connected to the ground to a fastening point.

The operating mechanics are described in the next section and are based on the sliding module’s ability to attach and detach itself, via remote control, both to the fastening point and the spill hole on the parachute. This function can be obtained by a ratchet mechanism with a return spring, as shown below.

With this innovation the necessary energy for the opening and closing of the sail surfaces is limited to that required to carry out the fastening and detachment movements with which the sliding module engages the spill hole and the fastening point. These actions are carried out by remote controlled low energy use servo-devices which can be powered by small batteries kept charged by solar panels or by small generators operated by the movement of the opening and closing cables of the parachute.

The ground connection cable is driven by a combination of overlapping rollers (similar to the ones shown below) which allow the cable to slide at any angle.