Above: two examples of live display dashboards showing actual, target andmaximum loads. Left: unlike a load pin, a load cell built into a turnbuckle is only loaded in tension so that calibration that is done in the lab is then exactly transferrable to the yacht
storage. For a typical implementation that’s three to six months’ worth of continuous logging at a high frequency and if more storage capacity is needed a USB hard drive can be plugged in. Nucleus also hosts a range of
data-viewing dashboards that are designed specifically for each customer’s needs. After some filtering, it pushes all the data to the Synapse cloud where interactive dashboards help users to analyse their data after a race, or inspect it after an offshore passage. ‘We create a digital product for
sailors that works for them and is easy,’ Christensen says. ‘We’re in a unique place to do that because we already do the engineering of the entire rig – everything above the deck. If you’re on a grand prix boat, trying to push the limits without breaking things, we’re giving you a very well-engineered solution for live feedback about where you sit with the current loads versus our engineering. Not just for maximum loads, it can help you achieve target loads on various points of sail.’ ‘And if you’re on a superyacht,
we’re giving you an easy way to manage the human safety factor as well as protecting the gear. It’s about taking out all the guesswork of are we OK or are we not OK here. We can make that work because we’ve designed the sail or the spar or the rigging in the first place. That’s another big focus for us.’
Early adopters of the complete
Synapse solution include the foil-assisted Baltic 111 Raven, TP52 Vesper, ClubSwan 80 My Song and former Maxi72 North Star. Synapse load cells are also integrated into the rigging of the ClubSwan 125 Skorpios, the Baltic 108 Winwin and several Southern Wind yachts. Two more users that can’t be named are a leading America’s Cup team and another large foiling monohull. ‘Raven is a good example of the
value we can deliver,’ Christensen says. ‘They have a unique setup so we’ve done dashboards that show – in real time, for whatever sail configuration they’re using – the live load overlaid with the max load, overlaid with the target.’ ‘This is America’s Cup style data
analysis but we’re making it more accessible,’ Christensen says. ‘If we just dumped all the data in the cloud, no one would ever use it because it’s too hard. We have an event system that will flag an overload, or for something routine like a tack or gybe it can create a dashboard so you can see all the loads that were going on without needing to trawl though all your data. For the racing sailor it’s easier access to meaningful data and for the superyacht captain it’s an easy way to review how much they’re stressing the rigging compared to its working load.’ There are potential benefits in
after-sales service for customers of North Sails, Southern Spars, Hall Spars and Future Fibres. ‘We can close the loop with our engineering, get real world data and feed it back with some actionable insights, either for safety or performance,’ he explains. ‘For example you might be putting eight tons of load on the headstay and we can say that you should be using 12 tons.’ Another key feature of Synapse
is its ability to sample data at a very high rate of up to 100Hz, which makes the data much more reliable. ‘Some years ago I did some load testing on a boat in New Zealand,’ Christensen recalls. ‘We went out and logged at 15Hz on the first day, then reviewed the data. The next day
we logged at 50Hz and the data looked completely different. The loads are so dynamic that if you go too slow – the difference between logging at 10 points per second and 50 points or 100 points – you run the risk of cleanly missing the peak. We saw similar average values but when we turned up the frequency we saw that it actually peaked quite a lot higher.’ The snag with logging at 100Hz
(or even at 50Hz) is that it creates an enormous volume of data but the Nucleus processing hub is designed to manage it. ‘When you’re logging at such a high rate you don’t want to send all of it to the cloud but you don’t want to drop it either,’ Christensen says. ‘So we have algorithms that can thin the data when it makes sense to do so. When Synapse predicts that the load is going towards a peak it will capture a lot more data and retain it. When the loads are low and not going to peak, the effective sampling frequency can be greatly reduced to much more manageable levels. When you need data it will all be there but you don’t have to store too much in the cloud or clog up your bandwidth.’ When a peak load is predicted
it triggers the event system automatically: ‘When something happens, Nucleus will keep all the data around that event, depending on what it is, for let’s say plus or minus 30 seconds. I think that’s a unique feature.’ So what’s next for Synapse now
that the first implementations of their end-to-end solution are out on the water logging and compiling data? They’re already looking to leverage the power of Nucleus and the Synapse cloud and incorporate data from other sensing technology. To that end they are partnering with Insensys, a leader in the field of fibre optic strain sensors, which opens the system up to other areas of yachting, measuring hull or foil strains for example. The team is excited about the possibilities that will enable sailors to really get the best from their equipment while staying within the engineering limits.
www.synapsemarine.com
❑ SEAHORSE 63
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