LOTTE (airship)

LOTTE is a project initiated in 1991 within the University of Stuttgart with the aim of developing and constructing unmanned airships with solar propulsion . Within this project three solar powered airships were built one after the other.

These airships were used to measure air quality , among other things . The advantage here was that the electric drive did not influence the measurement data, as would have been the case with internal combustion engines.

LOTTE 1

The world's first solar powered airship was used at the 1993 IGA in Stuttgart .

Approved aircraft with the registration D-UISD

Technical specifications:

Length: 16 m
Diameter: 4 m
Total volume: 109 m³
Ballonet share: approx. 18%
Solar cell area: max. 4.8 m²
Solar power: max. 720 W
Max. Altitude: approx. 1000 m
Max. Speed: 45 km / h
Max. Payload: 10–15 kg

LOTTE 2

In 1993 the team took part in the World Solar Challenge in Australia. However, the race could not be finished.
In 1994 the airship could cover over 330 km of flight kilometers in a total of 13:30 h.

LOTTE 3

The third version of this airship, which has now grown to 16 m in length, was used for the first time in May 1994 and performed various missions for the CargoLifter AG company from the winter of 1996 . In November 1996, Carl-Heinrich von Gablenz , the CEO of CargoLifter, wrote in a guest article for the Deutsche Verkehrszeitung that immediately after the company was founded, the company had started the load exchange process planned for the CL160 cargo airship with a solar-powered airship from the University of Stuttgart to test, which was LOTTE 3. This airship could still be seen during the logistics fair in Leipzig in 1998. In 1999 it was willfully damaged by strangers in Leipzig. In the course of the company's history, no further public report has been made about the use and whereabouts of the airship.

useful information

Ingolf Schäfer, temporarily managing director of CargoLifter Development GmbH , has been involved with the solar airship project since the early days in autumn 1991. In 1997 he also did his dissertation with Bernd Kröplin , within which he dealt with solar airships in particular and the design optimization of airships in general.

Web links

Project page ISD Uni Stuttgart ( Memento from July 19, 2011 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Ingolf Schäfer: A method for the design optimization of airships. University of Stuttgart (also dissertation) 1997, ISBN 3-930683-19-9 , p. (Foreword).
↑ Jürgen K. Bock, Berthold Knauer: Lighter than air: transport and carrier systems. Verlag Frankenschwelle, Hildburghausen 2003, ISBN 3-86180-139-6 , p. 454.
^ Deutsche Verkehrszeitung (November 9, 1996): Cargolifter - a new generation of airships for large and heavy transport. Faster and cheaper than other modes of transport.
↑ Stuttgarter Nachrichten (October 23, 1999): Lotte caught on the run again: Stuttgart solar airship in Leipzig on the wrong track.

[schäfer-1] Ingolf Schäfer: A method for the design optimization of airships. University of Stuttgart (also dissertation) 1997, ISBN 3-930683-19-9 , p. (Foreword).

[2] Jürgen K. Bock, Berthold Knauer: Lighter than air: transport and carrier systems. Verlag Frankenschwelle, Hildburghausen 2003, ISBN 3-86180-139-6 , p. 454.

[3] Deutsche Verkehrszeitung (November 9, 1996): Cargolifter - a new generation of airships for large and heavy transport. Faster and cheaper than other modes of transport.

[4] Stuttgarter Nachrichten (October 23, 1999): Lotte caught on the run again: Stuttgart solar airship in Leipzig on the wrong track.