JP2002205693A - Airship moored to fixed point - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method airship that can be held to a fixed point for a long time with the supply of driving fuel to a mounted engine and a fuel supply device in a method and a device for mooring the airship to the fixed point in meteorological observation. SOLUTION: This airship moored to the fixed point comprises an airship mounted with a propeller, a control device and a transmitter-receiver; the fuel supply device for supplying fuel to a drive part of the airship; a winch for mooring the airship to the fixed point and adjusting the height of the airship; and a transmitter-receiver for communicating with the transmitter-receiver mounted to the airship.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for mooring an airship at a fixed point during weather observation. It is an invention.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, moored airships for weather observation do not have a propulsion device such as a propeller, and cannot easily stay at a fixed point when moored because they are susceptible to crosswinds in the sky.

[0003] For this reason, when the purpose of staying at a fixed point for a long time in weather observation or the like is to install a large engine and other propulsion devices on the moored airship, and a considerably large fuel tank. Was.

[0004]

However, the conventional moored airship consumes a large amount of fuel in order to stay at a fixed point, and is therefore mounted on the airship from the beginning, and is designed in advance in the design stage to be moored at a fixed point for a long time. It was necessary to secure the space for the fuel tank and enlarge the airship itself, which was a major problem in the design of the airship itself.

[0005] Even if a large amount of fuel is loaded, when the fuel is consumed, the hull needs to be refilled with fuel, so that the hull has to descend to the ground. Therefore,
Long continuous mooring is not possible.

[0006] Further, there is a disadvantage that the weight of the hull itself becomes very light due to consumption of fuel mounted on the moored airship and the buoyancy is increased, so that it is extremely difficult to secure stability at a fixed point.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a moored airship moored at a fixed point equipped with a gas engine as a propulsion device, and supplies this fuel gas from the ground through a gas pressure hose to continuously stay at the fixed point for a long time. It is an object of the present invention to provide a moored airship capable of performing the following.

[0008]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a fixed-point moored airship according to the present invention supplies fuel to an airship equipped with a propulsion device, a control device, and a transceiver, and a drive unit of the airship. A fixed point mooring airship, comprising: a fuel supply device, a winch for mooring the airship at a fixed position and adjusting the height of the airship, and a transceiver for communicating with a transceiver mounted on the airship. And

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First, a fixed-point moored airship according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall view showing an entire fixed point mooring airship according to the present invention.
The fixed-point moored airship 1 according to the present invention includes an airship 2 staying in the sky, a fuel supply device 6, a winch 7, a ground radio transceiver 8, and the like installed on the ground.

As shown in FIG. 1, a fixed-point moored airship 1 according to the present invention supplies fuel to an airship 2 equipped with a drive unit 3, a control device 4, and a transceiver 5, and to a drive unit 3 of the airship 2. It comprises a fuel supply device 6, a winch 7 for mooring the airship 2 at a fixed position and adjusting the height thereof, and a transceiver 8 for communicating with the transceiver 5 mounted on the airship 2.

Hereinafter, the airship 2 moored at a fixed position will be described in detail. The airship 2 is moored at a fixed point A, and the hull 2a of the airship 2 is formed in a substantially elliptical shape.

Of course, the shape of the hull 2a of the airship 2 need not necessarily be substantially elliptical, but may be other shapes. For example, the shape may be a spherical shape, a cylindrical shape, a rectangular parallelepiped shape, a cubic shape, or another shape.

As shown in FIG. 1, a drive unit 3 and a transceiver 5 are installed outside the hull 2a. The driving unit 3
Is in front of the lower part of the hull 2a, and the transceiver 5 is
It is installed behind.

At the rear of the hull 2a, in order to balance the hull 2a when the hull 2a is moored at a fixed position, the upper vertical wing 2b, the lower vertical wing 2c, the left horizontal wing 2d, the right horizontal wing 2e is provided.

The propulsion device 3 attached to the lower part of the hull 2a has a built-in drive source. The driving source is an electric motor and an engine 3a driven by gas. There is a rotating shaft 3c that is rotated by an electric motor, an engine, or the like, which is the driving source, and a propeller 3b
Is attached. The hull 2a of the airship 2 moves by the rotation of the propeller 3b.

An on-board radio transceiver 5 having a structure capable of communicating wirelessly is mounted behind the propulsion unit 3 mounted on the hull 2a of the airship 2. Symbol 5a
Reference numeral 5b denotes an antenna for transmitting or receiving a signal from the on-board wireless transceiver 5 or the terrestrial wireless transceiver 8.

A navigation device 4 is built in the hull 2 a of the airship 2. In this navigation device 4, a signal transmitted from a terrestrial wireless transceiver 8 is received by an on-board wireless transceiver 5 mounted on the airship 2, and stays at a predetermined fixed point (position) according to an instruction of the content of the received signal. Thus, the output of the engine 3a, which is the driving source, is controlled.

As shown in FIG. 1, a fuel supply device 6, a winch 7 and a ground radio transceiver 8 are installed on the ground. On the ground, a fuel supply device 6 that supplies fuel to an engine 3a that is a driving source of a propulsion device 3 installed below the hull 2a of the airship 2 is installed.

The fuel container 6a of the fuel supply device 6 includes:
There is a pressure gauge 6b for measuring the pressure of fuel such as gas, and an opening / closing valve 6c for supplying fuel. Hull 2a of airship 2
The hose 3d connected to the engine 3a attached to the fuel supply device 6 is connected to the connecting member 6d of the fuel supply device 6.

A winch 7 is provided on the ground. A mooring rope 7a is wound around the winch 7, and the mooring rope 7a is moored to the hull 2a of the airship 2.

Further, on the ground, in addition to the fuel supply device 6 and the winch 7, a ground radio transceiver 8 is installed. Reference numeral 8a denotes an antenna for transmitting a signal from the terrestrial radio transceiver 8 or receiving a signal transmitted from the on-board radio transceiver 5.

A method of mooring the airship 2 at a fixed position (fixed point) in the sky is as follows. With the hose 3d for supplying gaseous fuel and the mooring rope 7a attached, the airship 2 is lifted by itself to the sky to adjust the mooring rope 7a. To stop.

When the position of the airship 2 stopped in the sky is not stopped at a desired position, the navigation device 4 mounted on the hull 2a sends a signal of the instruction content from the antenna 8a of the terrestrial radio transceiver 8. Outgoing.

The radio transmitter / receiver 5 on which the signal of the instruction content is mounted
Receives the received signal, the onboard radio transceiver 5 transmits the signal content to the navigation device 4, and the navigation device 4 instructs the engine 3a of the propulsion device 3 according to the signal content, rotates the propeller 3b, It is moved to a desired fixed point A and stopped.

Hose 3 connected to fuel supply device 6
d is connected to an engine 3a attached to the lower part of the hull 2a of the airship 2. Even if strong winds blow,
The hose 3d is firmly connected so that the connected engine 3a and fuel supply device 6 do not come off.

Even if the hose 3d is detached from the fuel supply device 6 due to a strong wind, the state in which the hose 3d is detached is recognized so that the fuel container 6a of the fuel supply device 6 does not leak outside. Safety devices are installed for safety.

The fuel supplied to the engine 3a is opened to the airship above by opening an open / close valve 6c attached to the upper portion of the fuel supply device 6 and connected to a connecting portion 6d by a rubber-like pipe 3.
Through d, pressure is applied to the fuel tank mounted on the hull 2 a of the airship 2.

The fuel supply device 6 is provided with a pressure gauge 6b. The gauge of the pressure gauge 6b is checked, and fuel is always supplied to the engine 3a mounted on the airship 2 at an appropriate pressure. It has a structure that can do it.

An airship 2 stopped at a fixed point in the sky
When the supply of fuel to the engine 3a of the propulsion unit 3 attached to the engine 3 is completed, the fuel supply device 6 automatically stops. By adopting such a structure,
A required amount of fuel can be constantly supplied to the engine 3a of the propulsion unit 3 of the airship 2.

A computer installed in the navigation device 4 provided in the hull 2a provides a stop position in the sky,
By automatically calculating altitude and the like, it is possible to stop at a position most suitable for observation.

When the stop position does not automatically stop at the target stop position, a signal indicating the best stop position is transmitted from the terrestrial radio transceiver 8, and the on-board radio transceiver 5 transmits the signal. It can receive and control the stop state of the airship 2.

[0032]

According to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained because of the configuration as described above. First, the airship does not need to be refilled with fuel, can be continuously moored for a long time, and can be filled with fuel on board or on the water, regardless of whether it is on the ground or with a fuel device.

Second, it is only necessary to secure a minimum space for the fuel tank at the design stage. Therefore, the design of the hull of the airship can be optimized, and the manufacturing cost of the hull can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram in which a fixed point moored airship according to the present invention stays at a fixed point by supplying fuel gas from the ground through a gas pressure hose.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Moored airship 2 Airship 2a Hull 2b Upper vertical wing 2c Lower vertical wing 2d Left horizontal wing 2e Right horizontal wing 3 Propeller 3a Engine 3b Propeller 3c Rotation axis 3d Hose 4 Navigation device 4a Antenna 5 Onboard radio transceiver 5a Antenna 5b Antenna 6 Fuel supply device 6a Fuel container 6b Pressure gauge 6c Open / close valve 6d Connecting material 7 Winch 7a Mooring rope 8 Transceiver

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Ken Nozaki 1-1-4 Umezono, Tsukuba, Ibaraki Pref. Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (AIST) (72) Inventor Akira Negishi Umezono, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 1-1-4, Electronic Technology Research Institute, AIST, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (72) Inventor Kenji Otani 1-4-1, Umezono, Tsukuba, Ibaraki Pref. In-house (72) Inventor Kazumasa Tomita 1-6-1 Takezono, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki Pref. AIS Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Akira Miya 1-6-1 Takezono Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki Pref. Esuchi (72) Inventor Mamoru Yamada 1-6-1 Takezono, Tsukuba, Ibaraki Pref.

Claims (1)

[Claims] An airship equipped with a propulsion device, a control device, and a transceiver, a fuel supply device for supplying fuel to a drive unit of the airship, a winch for mooring the airship in a fixed position and adjusting the height of the airship, A fixed-point moored airship, comprising: a transceiver for communicating with a transceiver mounted on the airship.