Patent Application
20230399093
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Lighter-than-air airships use a lifting gas—most commonly helium, hydrogen, or hot air—to provide buoyancy, and may be classed as non-rigid, semi-rigid, or rigid. Non-rigid airships such as early blimps and hot air balloons have an envelope that is supported only by the pressure of the gas within. Semi-rigid airships typically have some internal structure but still rely on internal pressure to inflate the envelope. Rigid airships such as dirigibles have a mechanical structure that supports and maintains the shape of the outer envelope while the lifting gas is typically contained in multiple smaller internal gas chambers.
Lighter-than-air airships are useful because they can take off and land vertically and can stay aloft for long periods using little or no fuel unless they use hot air as the lifting gas. However, they do have some serious disadvantages. They are limited to low speeds because they have a very large frontal area with a rather delicate outer skin. The newest blimps have a maximum speed of about 70 MPH. Lighter-than-air airships tend to be very expensive if they use helium, and very dangerous if they use hydrogen, which is much cheaper but highly flammable. Another problem is that in order to land, an airship must be slightly heavier than air, or use its engines to produce some downward force. Once on the ground, it typically needs to be tethered to keep it down or brought into a hangar to protect it from the wind. At high altitude, where the atmospheric pressure is reduced, the internal gas may develop too much differential pressure if it is not vented or pumped into a pressure tank. Some airships are designed to be slightly heavier than air and must use their engines to take off and stay airborne.
In 1670, an airship was proposed using vacuum filled spheres for buoyancy, which initially sounds like a great idea, because a vacuum is lighter than any lifting gas. However, scientists have argued that any spherical structure strong enough to support a vacuum against the crush of atmospheric pressure would be too heavy to be lifted by the enclosed vacuum. However, this does suggest that if an airship could be designed such that its lifting gas would be at a partial vacuum, it would have greater buoyancy.
The present invention overcomes many, and perhaps all, of the shortcomings of previous lighter-than-air airships. Because it provides a Configurable Buoyancy and Geometry, it can [[be]] become significantly lighter or heavier than the air it displaces, enabling vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) without the need for thrust or ballast. It can also reduce its frontal area and drag to be more streamlined, while at the same time becoming more rugged and durable, allowing it to travel at high speed. It is anticipated that such a craft will be able to travel at well over 100 MPH, possibly even 200 MPH. Yet, it has a very simple, inherently strong, lightweight, and low-cost semi-rigid structure and operating mechanism. It requires no ballast, no multiple separate gas chambers, no pumps, pressure tanks, or blowers, and no complex control schemes. In addition, the internal gas can be at a partial vacuum, further increasing its buoyancy over that of a similar volume airship in which the gas must be above atmospheric pressure to inflate and support the envelope. This also reduces the problem of excessive internal pressure at high altitude. A further advantage is that if there were any leakage or permeability in the envelope, rather than expensive helium or dangerous hydrogen leaking out, relatively harmless air would leak in, which could be continuously liquefied and eliminated by a miniature cryogenic system. The reduced internal pressure would help to make a hydrogen-filled airship safe and practical.
In the construction of a modern blimp, the entire envelope must be formed into one or two very large pieces before it is applied to the internal structure, which is a very complex and costly process. In the present invention, the rib structure makes it possible to install the envelope one segment at a time in a much simpler and less costly process.
While not shown in the drawing, As shown in the drawings, there would preferably be a rugged nose assembly at the front end and a similar tail assembly at the back end to anchor the ribs and keep them properly aligned. The nose and tail assemblies would also serve as anchor points for the mechanism that adjusted the length of the CBAG airship to configure its buoyancy and geometry. The simplest and lightest mechanism would probably be a simple electric powered cable winch mounted inside, but a motorized jackscrew, or a pneumatic or hydraulic cylinder could also be used. Because it only takes a small change in length to produce a large change in diameter and buoyancy, the jackscrew or cylinder would not need to be very long. For example, if the airship were 100 feet long and 10 feet in diameter at minimum buoyancy, it would only have to be shortened by 2½ feet to double its diameter. The adjustment mechanism could be mounted in the nose or tail assembly for easy servicing.
Some of the ribs could be fitted with appropriate means to allow attachment of various external features such as fins, engines, or a suspended gondola, as long as the attached features did not interfere with the normal flexing of the ribs as they change shape. The nose and tail assemblies might provide a more stable structure for attaching such features.
While the CBAG could certainly be fitted with its own attached wings, fins, propulsion, control, and navigation systems, etc., its greatest advantages would most likely be realized when combined with a custom designed heavier-than-air aircraft structure using wings or rotors that would provide all those features, along with space for crew, passengers, cargo and fuel or batteries. This structure could be slung under the CBAG, suspended either from the ribs, or from the nose and tail assemblies. If attached to the nose and tail assemblies with rigid members having the ability to pivot or telescope, this structure could apply an external force to configure the buoyancy and geometry. The whole under-slung structure could be moved slightly forward or backward to trim the pitch angle of the combined hybrid craft. For a large transport system, two or more CBAG Airships could be combined with a heavier-than-air structure. For an electric powered craft, wings could be fitted with solar panels.
In the case of a quad-copter style aircraft, adding one or more CBAG Airships would make it possible for such a craft to stay aloft much longer, as power would only be needed for changing position or station keeping, instead of for hovering. An electric powered craft with solar recharging could stay aloft almost indefinitely. Such a device could function as a cellphone or microwave relay station, or as a long-term reconnaissance drone.
In an alternate embodiment, though perhaps more complicated and less optimal, the ribs could be designed to inherently bow outward for maximum buoyancy with the lifting gas at close to atmospheric pressure, and they could be drawn inward along with the envelope by pumping gas out of the envelope and into a pressure storage tank, or by an internal mechanism acting directly on the ribs to draw them in.
