JPH05201390A - Airship - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide an airship which improves sharply work efficiency by a method wherein even when an airship is large, it is easily contained in a building and further, when it is anchored at a field, no space is needed, and the influence of wind is minimized. CONSTITUTION:The body of an airship is dividable into compartments of a head part A, an intermediate part B, and a tail part C. The connection part of each compartment is provided with a circular frame F, and a removable flexible joint J is mounted on the opposite surfaces, making a pair, of the circular frames F. The flexible joint J regulates the connection length of a shaft and has adjustability with which the direction of a shaft itself is changed in a 360 deg. arc.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an airship that floats by a levitation force of a gas lighter than air packed in a gas bag and flies by a propulsion device and a control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Although an airship is developed from a balloon, the shape of its gas bag is different from that of a balloon and is streamlined so as to be suitable for flight. The first appearance of the airship is 18
It was made by Henri Giffard of France in September 1952, and is equipped with a balloon filled with hydrogen gas, a steam engine and a propeller, and a speed of 8 km / h.
Flying 7km. There are two types of airships: a small airship that does not have a skeleton and has a balloon-like structure, and a rigid airship that has a rigid skeleton and has a number of bag-shaped gas chambers. As 1900
The "Count of Teppelin" and "Hindenburg" made in Germany are famous. When they were put into operation by the world's first air transport company, an airship established in 1909, they developed into a flower pattern for empty transportation due to their long cruising range and large loading capacity.
Since then, airships have become popular in the United Kingdom and the United States and have been active as public transportation facilities all over the world, but after several accidents due to bad weather, the "Hindenburg" explosion occurred at Lakehurst Airfield, NJ, USA in 1937. The activity gradually diminished due to the burning accident. On the other hand, soft airships have been used in the United States mainly for anti-submarine patrols, and have survived to the present day without disappearing, but their use is limited to special ones.

Modern airships (soft airships) have a safety aspect by changing the gas filled inside from conventional highly flammable hydrogen gas to helium gas, which is next to hydrogen and is lightly inert and non-flammable. Greatly improved. In addition, the airship can fly at low speed for a long time at low speed and can stay stationary in the air, and because it has a large gondola,
It is ideal for live TV and aerial photography, and has been used in the US for live coverage of baseball games, car races, and yacht races. Also, the large envelope (balloon part) is effective as an advertising space that attracts people's attention, and in Japan, its use has recently become active. In addition to this, airships are used for the investigation of ocean and air pollution, security, rescue,
There are many fields in which the characteristics and characteristics of airships can be utilized, such as investigation activities, and their success is greatly expected from various fields.

Today, there are three manufacturers of airships in the world. Airship Industries of the United Kingdom, WDL of Germany, and Goodyear of the United States manufacture soft airships with a total length of about 60 m. In addition, the power unit of an airship may use a horizontally-opposed engine for a small aircraft such as Leicaming Corp. or Continental Corp. in the United States, but recently, a lightweight and high-performance automobile engine has been improved and installed for the airship. There are many examples, and the representative one is the horizontally opposed 6-cylinder engine (flat 6 unit) of Porsche, which is famous for German sports car manufacturer.

It was a new memory that Hitachi first used an airship in Japan, and imported an airship made by Goodyear Co., Ltd. as a means of advertising and flew all over Japan as "Kid Color." In addition, the operation business by airship was started by the establishment of the Japan Airship Business, an affiliate of Japan Airlines, in 1968, and the Skyship Series "Skyship 500" airship was introduced by Airship Industries, Inc. of the United Kingdom. It was the first time to start business.

The Skyship series of Airship Industries, Inc. is a new-generation soft airship designed and developed according to a new design concept. A Kevlar gondola is attached to the bottom of the envelope structure where polyester fiber is coated with a special paint. The weight is significantly reduced, and FRP ducted fans are attached to the left and right of the rear of the gondola. This ducted fan adopts the vector thrust system that can rotate the whole up to 80 degrees and down to 120 degrees, so that not only the buoyancy of helium gas but also the lift can be directly generated. There is. On the other hand, the "Skyship 500" is no longer used and the stretch-type "Skyship 600" is used.
Is in service.

This "Skyship 600" has a total length of 59.
01m, total height 20.3m, envelope diameter 15.2
m, envelope volume 6666 m ³ , total length of gondola 1
1.83m, width of gondola 2.56m, weight of the aircraft is 3
It has a specification of 664 kg. The engine was modified from Porsche's automobile for aircraft. 3
It produces an output of 255 HP from a capacity of 298 cc. There is no transmission, but the speed is reduced at 37:19 between the engine and the propeller shaft,
Since a variable pitch propeller is attached to this, reverse is also possible. In addition, its performance has a climb limit of 1500 m and a flight speed of 90 to 110 km / h. Basically, it can be operated by one pilot,
The control system does not have power assist, so two people are used for normal operation.

[0008]

However, even with the above-mentioned new-generation airship, the fundamental drawbacks of the airship have not been overcome. That is, since the airship levitates in the air due to buoyancy, its capacity inevitably increases. For example, even in the modern "Skyship 500", which is relatively small when viewed from the past airships (rigid airships), B7 is required to store it on the ground.
A hangar for 47 is required. Furthermore, in the stretch-type "Skyship 600", there is no existing domestic hanger for aircraft that can be stored. Therefore,
It will be connected to a mast car on the ground and moored outdoors. However, when mooring an airship outdoors, the helium gas that fills the airship is sensitive to temperature changes and constantly changes volume and buoyancy, so two staff members must continue to monitor insomnia even at night. Also, when mooring an airship to a mast car, etc., the airship's body is in a free state only connected to the mast car, so it always moves left and right due to the influence of the wind. There is. Therefore, during the work, sometimes measure the air volume with an anemometer,
There was a problem that the work had to be interrupted immediately when the wind became strong. Therefore, the present invention provides "Skyship 6
Even an "00" class airship can be easily stored indoors, and even when mooring outdoors it does not take up space,
The objective is to provide an airship that can dramatically improve work efficiency by minimizing the effect of wind.

[0009]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention, which has been made to achieve the above object, has a streamlined airframe in which a plurality of gas bags are filled with a gas lighter than air, and the levitation force levitates the airframe.
In an airship composed of a propulsion device for flying the aircraft, a control device for steering the aircraft, and a gondola attached to the lower part of the aircraft, which carries humans and luggage,
The above-mentioned airframe is divided into independent partition parts each having one head part, one or more intermediate parts, and one tail part, and the partition parts are configured to be detachable through a plurality of universal connecting members. The gist is an airship characterized by.

[0010]

According to the airship of the present invention, when the universal connecting member of the airframe is cut off, the airframe is separated into independent compartments having one head portion, one or more intermediate portions, and one tail portion. On the other hand, when a plurality of independent partition sections are connected, the partition section becomes the airframe of the airship.

[0011]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the airship of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a structural explanatory view of the airship of the present embodiment,
FIG. 2 is a front view of the airship. In the airship of this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the airframe of the airship can be divided into a head portion A, a middle portion B, and a tail portion C, and a circular frame F is provided at a connecting portion of each compartment.
A detachable flexible joint J is attached to the pair of opposing surfaces of the circular frame F. This flexible joint J has the possibility of adjusting the connection length of the shaft and changing the direction of the shaft itself in the direction of 360 degrees.

Next, details of each compartment will be described. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the head portion A of the airship of the present embodiment has a semi-rigid airship structure in which a frame 1 forming a frame is covered with an envelope 2 in which polyester fiber is coated with a special paint. A front gondola 3 equipped with operation equipment such as a control device, a navigation device, and a radio device, and a cockpit in which a pilot is boarded is attached to the vehicle. The front gondola 3 is provided with a connecting passage K at the rear part, and a ducted fan engine 4 is attached to both sides of the rear part. In this ducted fan engine 4, the thrust direction of the engine is 80 degrees upward through the shaft 4a attached to the front gondola 3.
It is a vector thrust system that can be rotated up to 120 degrees. In addition, a mooring device 5 for mooring a mast car on the ground is provided at the tip of the compartment of the head portion A, and the helium gas is provided inside the gas bag for obtaining the buoyant force inside the frame 1. Equipped with a helium gas cell 6 filled with
Further, a front baronette 7 for supplying and discharging air is formed in the lower part thereof. The front baronette is
When the airship flies at a low altitude, air is supplied to the front baronette to maintain the pressure in the envelope, the altitude of the airship is increased, the external pressure of the helium gas cell is increased, and the volume of the helium gas cell is increased. This is a mechanism for controlling the pressure inside the envelope by discharging that air to the outside of the envelope. In addition, this baronet is installed separately in front of and behind the airship body, and is also used to maintain the balance of the body by adjusting the air volume of both. (Although it will be described later, this embodiment also has a baronet at the rear of the machine.)

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, the compartment of the middle portion B of the airship is covered with a cylindrical envelope 8 having circular frames J on the front and rear sides, and the inside thereof is a helium gas cell 9 filled with helium gas. It has become.
A middle gondola 10 having a cabin for mounting passengers and luggage (equipment) is attached to the lower surface of the intermediate portion B. A connection passage K is provided at both front and rear ends of the middle gondola 10, and ducted fan engines 4 similar to those equipped at the front end A are attached to both sides of the rear part.

On the other hand, the compartment of the tail portion C of the airship, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, is similar to the compartment of the head portion A and forms a frame (not shown).
In addition, a polyester fiber coated with an envelope 11 coated with a special paint is attached, and an upper portion thereof is provided with a helium gas cell 12 and a lower portion thereof is provided with a rear baronet 13. Further, vertical stabilizers 14 are attached to the upper surface and the lower surface of the envelope 11, respectively, and a rudder 14a for steering is provided at the rear end thereof. Further, horizontal stabilizers 15 are attached to the left and right sides of the envelope 11, respectively, and an elevator 15a for operation is provided at the rear end of the envelope. Furthermore, the tail part C of the airship
A rear gondola 16 equipped with a connecting passage K in the front part and equipped with an air conditioner, a generator and the like is attached to the front part of the lower surface of the. On both sides of the rear part of the rear gondola 16, the same octet fan engine 4 as that mounted on the front part A is attached.

Next, the operation and effect of this embodiment having the above-mentioned structure will be described. In the airship of the present embodiment, compartments of a head portion A, an intermediate portion B and a tail portion C of the airframe of the airship are connected via a circular frame F and a flexible joint J provided at a connecting portion of each compartment, and further, each of the compartments is connected. Connect the front gondola 3, middle gondola 10 and rear gondola 16 to the connecting passage K
When connected via, it becomes an airship similar to a general one and has the same performance as a normal airship. On the other hand, when the flight is completed and it is stored in a hanger or the like, all the flexible joints J that connect the respective compartments of the airship are removed from the circular frame, and the connecting passages K of each gondola are removed. As shown, it is separated into a head portion A, a middle portion B and a tail portion C. Due to this action, even a large airship can store each compartment in a separate small hanger.
Various tasks such as engine removal and replacement that were carried out by mooring the airship outdoors can be done by removing only the necessary compartments from the airship's fuselage and storing them in the hangar. Be able to carry out. Therefore. Not only is the maintenance time of the airship significantly shortened compared to the conventional one, but it also helps improve the working environment of the workers themselves. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the cabin capacity can be increased freely by connecting a plurality of compartments in the middle portion B of the airship as needed. As a result, the airship of the present embodiment can easily cope with the future demand for an increase in the size of the airship and an increase in the loading capacity of the airship without constructing a new airship, which is very economical and flexible. It can be said that this is an epoch-making airship that can be operated. In this embodiment, the duct duct fan engine 4 is attached to each of the gondola in the head section A, the middle section B, and the tail section C of the airship body. 10 Ductet Fan Engine 4
Omitting does not affect basic functionality or flight performance.

[0016]

As described in detail above, in the airship of the present invention, the airframe of the airship is divided into independent compartments each having one head portion, one or more intermediate portions, and one tail portion, and the compartments concerned. Each of the parts is configured to be removable via a plurality of universal connection members. This makes it possible to divide the airship's airframe into separate parts and store it in hangers, etc., or store only the necessary compartments for work, simplifying the storage space of the airship and dramatically improving maintainability. Improved. Further, if necessary, it is also easy to increase the loading amount of the airship by adding only the intermediate section.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway left side view showing an embodiment of an airship of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of the airship of the present embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A Leading part B Middle part C Tail F Circular frame J Flexible joint 1 Frame 2,8,11 Envelope 3 Front gondola 4 Ducted fan engine 5 Mooring device 6,9,12 Helium gas cell 7 Front ballonet 10 Middle gondola 13 Rear barronet 14 Vertical stability Board 14a Ladder 15 Horizontal stabilizer 15a Elevator 16 Rear gondola K Connecting passage

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A streamlined airframe in which a plurality of gas bags are filled with a gas lighter than air and levitated by the levitation force, a propulsion device for flying the airframe, a control device for steering the airframe, and In an airship that is attached to the lower part of the airframe and consists of a gondola that carries humans and luggage, the airframe is divided into independent divisions consisting of one head part, one or more middle parts, and one tail part. An airship characterized in that the compartments are configured to be detachable via a plurality of universal connection members.