Cargolifter CL160
CL160 was the planned transport airship of the German Cargolifter AG , which filed for bankruptcy in 2002 . The airship development never got beyond the conception phase due to the company's insolvency. It was supposed to transport loads of up to 160 tons over great distances, which explains its model name.
description
CL160 was designed as a keel airship. The keel should consist of carbon fiber reinforced plastic and support quarters, loads, tail unit and propulsion system extending from the bow tip to the stern. For the latter, eight General Electric CT7 -8L shaft turbines with 5882 kW (8000 hp) each were provided, half of which were only intended to be used for steering. Many details of the construction remained open, but some components had already been manufactured before the bankruptcy.
A fundamental hurdle for the construction of large cargo airships is the extensive lift compensation when loading and unloading the airship. A load exchange procedure was planned for the CL160 , which was also tested in practice on the Cargolifter CL75 AirCrane . The CL160 should be anchored above the loading area to pick up freight and then pick up the payload using a built-in load frame. When the load was set down, the plan was to take up ballast water from tank trucks from the ground to compensate for the weight loss . Allegedly, a ballast water recovery system was also planned. Ultimately, however, there was no getting beyond the basic technical ideas for solving the problem.
The airworthy model Cargolifter Joey of the CL160 was built as a test vehicle on a scale of 1: 8 in order to check model calculations, test new materials and gain flight experience during development.
The Tropical Islands leisure park is now located in the already completed airship hangar .
Technical data (planned)
- Dimensions: 65 m diameter, 260 m length, 82 m total height
- Cover Volume: 550,000 cubic meters, as a carrier gas was helium provided
- Empty weight: 260 t
- Loading volume: 3,200 cubic meters (50 m × 8 m × 8 m)
- Payload: up to 160 t
- Range: up to 10,000 km
- Top speed: 125 km / h
- Max. Flight altitude 2,000 m
- Crew: 10–12 people
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Philipp Hermanns: Organizational Hubris - Rise and Fall of a Celebrity Firm using the example of CargoLifter AG. Kölner Wissenschaftsverlag, Cologne 2012, ISBN 978-3-942720-33-5 , p. 194 ff.