Solar airship

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A solar airship is a mostly unmanned airship that uses solar cells to generate the electric current for its propulsion, with the buoyancy being generated with the help of a hydrogen or helium filling .

The advantage of the solar airship lies on the one hand in its absolute absence of exhaust gases and the low operating noise, and on the other hand in the operating time limited only by the leaks in the envelope. Since no fuel has to be carried, the problem of increasing lift does not arise if the mass of the airship is reduced by the fuel consumed.

However, if the airship is to be controllable under the cloud cover or at night, it must be equipped with energy storage devices such as accumulators or additional energy sources.

Solar airships and projects built so far

  • Two solar airship models were designed by Michael Walden for LTAS Inc. in 1978/79 and tested in the desert of Nevada, USA.
  • "Solar Egg" (solar egg) from Tokyo-Sanyo Co. Ltd. USA flew at 10 km / h in 1992, carried a camera and had solar cells with a power to weight ratio of 200 mW / g.
  • LOTTE 1 , first flight 1993, LOTTE 2, LOTTE 3 (from 1991 of the University of Stuttgart); LOTTE 2 took part in the World Solar Challenge vehicle race in 1993 . The cooperation between the Institute for Statics and Dynamics of Aerospace Structures at the University of Stuttgart and the Stuttgart Solar eV association began in 1992.
  • LEMS (Long Endurance Manned Solar) from Pan Atlantic Aerospace Corporation of Canada (43 m long)
  • Stratellite
  • High-altitude platform ( high altitude platform )
  • x-station telecommunication stratospheric solar airship: Was successfully brought into position on September 29, 2006, 21 km over Switzerland.
  • solarship project of a hybrid hydrofoil airship from Canada: over 100 km / h, 1 tonne payload. The aircraft is hybrid in two senses: It experiences aerostatic lift from a gas filling, so it is an airship and aerodynamic lift in flight through the delta wing, so it can also be viewed as a light aircraft. Propellers with electric drive, fed by solar cells, also provide propulsion, but also (at least) an internal combustion engine of a Busch airplane. The specimen shown on the fly with the registration C-GOFO consisted of a gas-filled blimp in the shape of a delta wing with at least 11 vertical cross -bars inside. The lattice tube fuselage lying below, covered with tarpaulin, had a 3-wheel chassis and two side arms, each with two two-bladed propellers. The vertical tail consisted of 3 surfaces, the delta had aerodynamically effective rudders at the rear. The impetus came in 1983 when a diplomat from Burundi in Ottawa declared that African landlocked states would need an inexpensive transport system to areas without infrastructure such as roads or airfields. In 2006, Jay Godsall , whose grandfather, father and cousins ​​deal with bush planes, founded Solar Ship Inc. to develop an aircraft suitable for Africa. Tim Shopa, a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot, who retired in 2015, is serving on the Burundi mission. Sally Horsfall Eaton and Scott Griffin (pilot) have contributed venture capital. In 2017, the Solar Ship website names the ship names Wolverine and Nanuq and, in addition to Africa, western China and northern Canada, where it is to be expected that less wintry ice roads will function due to global warming. Solar Ship Caracal C-GOFO crashed near Brantford Airport (CYFD) on August 29, 2014 and was substantially damaged, the pilot and a passenger of African descent were seriously injured. In October 2016, Solar Ship Inc. was able to conclude a contract for the delivery of 2 Caracal models with 20 m wingspan and 2 Wolverine models with 50 m wingspan to Manaf Freighters in Burundi.
  • eBlimp: Larry Fleming started building impact airships in 1997 and founded MicroFlight Inc. in California in 2000. The production of the family business, (currently) in Laguna Hills has delivered around 200 copies to date (as of 2016). Typically with a cover made of polyurethane film, length 2 to 12 meters, payload 0–5 kg, (6–8) -channel remote control and battery telemetry, for indoors or outdoors, with and without a tether and possible power supply through this. November 2016, a first eBlimp prototype with the imprint www.mothership.aero with solar cells flew 90 minutes in the open air near San Francisco under partly cloudy skies and the battery never fell below 90% charge. This enables permanent flight under direct sunlight. The 6 m long RC outdoor blimp with 700 W power , 4 control surfaces at the rear and solar cells costs 19,000 USD. At the top of the back of the cylindrical shell are 9 rows of 15 solar cells each, 4 times lashed around the circumference. (The development of an 8 m long type with 1000 W power is announced by eBlimp.) This prototype was developed for Mothership Aeronautics (MA) and is now owned by this company. Larry Fleming is listed by MA as a technology partner in the team.
  • Mothership Aeronautics (MA): Cylindrical-cigar-shaped blimps with 4 guide surfaces at the stern, the lower one is provided with a cross-thrust propeller, 2 swiveling propellers on each side under the inflatable, slightly in front of its mid-length (scout) Carrying gas helium. Unmanned, remote controlled. Solar cells stretched on the back.
    • MA Scout, length 7 m / 20 ft (= 6.09 m) , blimp diameter 1.3 m, travel speed 14 mph, maximum 25 mph, dead weight 8 kg, minimum flight time 4 hours, flight duration: daylight. To be equipped with a GoPro Hero Session camera for filming, surveillance or surveying. FAA part 107 operation.
    • MA carrier, length 9 m / 26 ft (= 7.92 m) , blimp diameter? m, travel speed 20 mph (= 32 km / h) , maximum 30 mph (= 48 km / h) , weight 8 kg, minimum flight time 4 hours, flight duration: 3 weeks. Equipment: 4 K aerial camera + infrared camera + carrier for multicopters ("airborne aircraft carrier"). Small camera drones without a carrier have a limited range over the flight time, which limits their use in impassable areas. With a solar blimp as an aircraft carrier and automated reloading for 3 drones, a much greater range can be achieved (presumably planned), for example to inspect a pipeline in an impassable area.

Carrier gas heating

Solar airships, which get their buoyancy like solar balloons by heating the carrier gas air with solar radiation , were not realized. The buoyancy that can be achieved in this way is specifically quite low, depends on the weather and is difficult to control. In all airships such as balloons that are not designed to be highly reflective, however, a certain amount of gas heating always plays a certain role when exposed to sunlight.

See also

literature

  • Khoury and Gillet (Eds.): Airship Technology . Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN 0-521-60753-1 (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Solar airship LOTTE on the website of the University of Stuttgart ( Memento from May 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ http://www.stratxx.com/products/x-station/
  3. ↑ solarship.com website of Solar Ship Inc.
  4. ↑ Why I Invested in Solar Ship Solar Ship TV, youtube.com, May 6, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017. - Video, English, 3:09 min.
  5. ↑ Mission Burundi Solar Ship TV, youtube.com, December 22, 2015, accessed April 8, 2017. - Video, English, 3:31 min.
  6. ↑ ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 169357 - Aircraft Incident 29-AUG-2014 Solar Ship Caracal C-GOFO aviation-safety.net, August 30, 2014, accessed April 8, 2017.
  7. ↑ 2 seriously injured in blimp crash torontosun.com, August 29, 2014, accessed April 8, 2017.
  8. ↑ Aircraft crashes near Brantford airport chch.com, August 29, 2014, accessed April 8, 2017. - Video interview.
  9. ↑ 4 Canadian part-solar flying machines sold to Africa cbc.ca, October 10, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017.
  10. ↑ eblimp.com website of MicroFlight Inc., formerly Airborne RC Flight School , 2015, accessed April 8, 2017.
  11. ↑ Commercial Grade Solar Airships are finally here! eblimp.com, accessed April 8, 2017.
  12. ↑ solar eBlimp RC airship youtube.com, Eblimp, November 17, 2016, accessed April 8, 2017. - Solar cell strips can be counted at 0: 55/2: 27.
  13. ↑ Team ( Memento of the original from April 9, 2017 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. mothership.aero, accessed April 8, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mothership.aero