Cargolifter CL75 AirCrane
The CL75 AirCrane was a spherical balloon from the German CargoLifter AG , which was intended for the transport of heavy loads in a loading frame hanging below. On October 12, 2001, the balloon moved outside the hall for the first time, in which previously tied test flights had been carried out.
After the manufacturer went bankrupt in June 2002, the development of the AirCrane was also discontinued in August 2002. The only test vehicle built was lost in a storm on July 10, 2002.
description
The balloon was mainly manufactured by the American companies TCOM and Advantec . It was assembled and filled in Briesen-Brand . TCOM manufactured the inflatable with a white shell and lashing. Advantec was the supplier of the loading frame suspended from about a dozen ropes arranged in a V shape. This was cuboid with cuts on the four vertical edges, i.e. octagonal in plan. The base of the loading frame was made of metal I-profiles and could stand on six air springs (“ ground interface units ” (pods)) on a sufficiently level floor. The six black bellows made of fiber elastomer were arranged in two longitudinal rows, three of each. Each of these bellows was delimited at the top and bottom by two fixed horizontal plates, the distance of which was limited by four short pairs of steel cables arranged in a crisscross manner. This tension could also transmit the necessary horizontal forces ( shear ) between the earth and the loading frame.
The overall elongated loading frame was screwed and thus dismantled and had a flat surface that could be driven on and above it a tunnel-like passage with a square clearance profile . Load could be lashed crosswise on all sides with anchor eyes that could be screwed into the frame floor. On the side of the tunnel, near the four beveled corners of the frame, there were four cylindrical ballast water tanks made of translucent fiber plastic, through which the water level could be seen with the naked eye. A screen showed the filling level of the four tanks, which could be filled and emptied via hose couplings (approx. 10 cm clear width) in the frame base. All sides of the loading frame, including the tunnel openings and the ballast monitor, can be closed against the wind and the weather with light gray textile tarpaulins.
In Briesen-Brand numerous material, functional and load tests were carried out in the airship hangar and later also outdoors. With the tests on the balloon, the functionality of the gas exchange process was confirmed and the function of the load exchange process was proven. For this purpose, a Bundeswehr mine clearance tank of the Keiler type was lifted. For moving the balloon in tensile tests two to four rolling were cranes used, the orange by a respective pair of 10,000 kg fabric loops , steel ropes and chains were aufgabelnd connected to the balloon and the loading frame. The CL75 AirCrane was intended as a stand-alone product of the company.
In the manual procedure in the hall, the flight height of the aerostat was stabilized by several hanging heavy chains, one part of which was loosely placed on a euro pallet that was carried by hand on the floor with a pallet truck. If necessary, these chains would also have acted as a braking balloon tow .
Technical specifications
- Dimensions: 61 m diameter, 85 m total height
- Envelope volume: 110,000 cubic meters
- Carrying gas : helium
- Loading volume: 468 cubic meters (13 m × 6 m × 6 m) (in the tunnel of the loading frame)
- Payload: up to a maximum of 75 t
- Transport speed: approx. 70 km / h
- Procedure: passive by pulling from the outside using " ground mover " and / or " air mover "
- Range: max. 250 km
- Crew: none
Individual evidence
- ↑ CargoLifter CL-75 First Load Exchange on YouTube 2001: First test of the load exchange procedure (22 t truck crane drives in, ballast water is drained) in the hall. October 12, 2001: First hang-out (with empty loading frame) and pull tests with four truck-mounted cranes about 900 m away.
- ↑ Future on Fire ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: Rusche )
- ↑ Sebastian Rusche: CL75 AirCrane Private Website, Heuchelheim, D. 2014–2016.
- ↑ The CL 75 AirCrane pilotundluftschiff.de, web.archive.org, accessed December 8, 2018.
