JPH08198188A - Fixed type satellite balloon - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a fixed type satellite balloon which floats satellite mounted with communication apparatus or radar device in the stratosphere, in extremely simple structure without the use of motive power and at low cost, and which is also easy to recover and maintain. CONSTITUTION: A balloon 1 filled with gas, such as helium gas, is connected to tip end of a rope 3. Its lower end is connected to a rope takeup machine. A vertical stabilizer wing 4 and a main wing 5, 5 are disposed horizontally in a lower portion o the balloon 1. Triangular sails 6, 6 are disposed above and below the balloon. Further, communication apparatus 7 is attached in a lower portion of the balloon 1. A parabola antenna 8 is then attached to it, oriented obliquely downward. The balloon rises due to buoyancy of the balloon itself and becomes stationary in the sky with the vertical stabilizer wing 4. Lift for its rise is caused due to wind passing through the main wing 5, 5, and its propulsive force arises with the sail 6.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fixed satellite balloon in which a balloon suspended in the stratosphere is connected to the tip of a rope fixed on the ground and a communication device or a radar device is mounted on the balloon.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a large number of artificial satellites have been launched by rockets due to the development of satellite communications, but there is a problem that the launch requires a huge amount of money. In addition, artificial satellites are moving in space around the earth at high speed, so if a satellite fails, it cannot be repaired.Since the artificial satellite itself has a life span, it will become unusable after a few years. Communication cost has become high.
In addition, since the observation range of radar for weather observation and radar for air traffic control is regulated by the height of the installed radar, it is installed on high mountain tops and tall towers, so the construction cost is high. Maintenance and repair were also troublesome.

[0003]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION As a result of various studies in view of the above problems, the present invention provides a satellite equipped with a communication device and a radar device, which has a very simple structure, does not use power, and is low in cost. It provides a fixed satellite balloon that floats in the stratosphere and is easy to collect and maintain.

[0004]

The fixed satellite balloon according to claim 1 of the present invention comprises a spherical balloon filled with a gas having a lower specific gravity than air, which is connected to the tip of a rope fixed on the ground. In addition to providing vertical stabilizers, the balloon is equipped with communication devices such as antennas and radar devices. The fixed satellite balloon according to claim 2 is characterized in that the balloon is provided with a horizontal main wing. The fixed satellite balloon according to claim 3 is characterized in that sails are provided above and below the balloon.

The fixed satellite balloon according to claim 4 is characterized in that the lower end of the rope is connected to a rope winder installed on the ground. Further, the fixed satellite balloon according to claim 5 is characterized in that an ascending / descending rope is attached along the rope between the balloon and a pulley provided on the ground.

[0006]

In the fixed satellite balloon of the present invention, when the rope winder installed on the ground is rotated to unwind the rope,
The balloon filled with gas such as helium gas rises while lifting the rope by its buoyancy. The balloon has vertical stabilizers, and the communication equipment attached to the bottom of the balloon balances the weight and balances it, allowing it to remain stable in the air at a 45-degree angle even when strong winds blow. . Further, in the balloon having the main wing according to the second aspect, the lift force is generated by the wind passing through the main wing, and together with the buoyancy of the helium gas, the force for pulling the long rope can be further increased. Further, the balloon with the sail according to the third aspect has an action of advancing in the direction in which the wind blows, and the balloon can rise obliquely toward the wind.

In the balloon according to the fourth aspect, since the lower end of the rope connected to the balloon is connected to the rope winder installed on the ground, the balloon can be easily collected on the ground. Further, in the balloon according to claim 4, since the lifting rope is attached along the rope between the balloon and the pulley provided on the ground, it is possible to exchange the communication device from the ground with the balloon raised. .

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. In the figure, reference numeral 1 is a spherical balloon, and the balloon 1 is filled with a gas such as helium gas having a specific gravity lighter than that of air, and is raised by its buoyancy. 2 is a rope winder installed on the ground, the lower end of the rope 3 is connected to this, the balloon 1 is connected to the tip, and when the rope 3 is unwound from the rope winder 2,
The balloon 1 is designed to rise due to buoyancy. The rope winder 2 is configured to wind a rope 3 having a length of tens of kilometers on a drum having a diameter of several tens of meters.

Disc-shaped vertical stabilizers 4 are vertically attached to the lower portion of the balloon 1. Further, a communication device 7 is attached to a lower portion of the balloon 1, and a parabolic antenna 8 connected to the communication device 7 is attached obliquely downward.

Next, in the fixed satellite balloon having the above-mentioned structure, after adjusting the direction of the parabolic antenna 8 attached to the balloon 1 on the ground, the rope winder 2 is rotated and the rope 3 is unrolled. The balloon 1 filled with such gas ascends diagonally while lifting the rope 3 by its buoyancy.

When a normal spherical balloon 1 is connected to a rope 3 and raised, the balloon 1 rises vertically as shown in FIG.
When it reaches about 4 m, it begins to sway with an inclination of about 75 degrees as shown in FIG. When the wind speed becomes 5 to 10 m, it inclines to about 45 degrees, and shakes violently at this boundary, and when the wind becomes stronger, the balloon 1 falls sideways and hits the ground. However, the present invention operates completely differently from the ordinary balloon 1.

That is, in the fixed satellite balloon of the present invention, the vertical stabilizing wings 4 are provided on the balloon 1, and the balloon 1
Since the communication device 7, which is a weight, is attached to the lower part of the, it can stand still in the air at an angle of about 45 degrees even if a strong wind blows. When the balloon 3 is further extended and the height of the balloon 1 reaches about 12 km, it reaches the stratosphere. However, in this stratosphere, a constant wind with a wind speed of about 36 m is constantly blowing from a certain direction, so the rope 3 is tilted. The vertical stabilizer 4 can be held and can maintain a stable posture.

In this way, since it is possible to stably float at a predetermined position in the stratosphere, the communication device 7 is operated after adjusting the direction of the parabolic antenna 8 according to the range for communication and observation at this position. In the unlikely event that the communication device 7 fails, the rope winder 2 is driven to drive the rope 3
It is possible to return the balloon 1 to the ground and collect it by winding up, and repair the communication device 7 on the ground. In this way, if three fixed satellite balloons are raised in the stratosphere,
It can cover all of Japan. In this case, a communication line such as an INDN line or a power cable or a control signal cable may be provided inside the rope 3.

In order to confirm the operation of the present invention, a vertical stabilizer 4 and a weight instead of the communication device 7 are provided below the spherical balloon 1 having a diameter of 3.5 m and filled with helium gas as shown in FIG. It was attached to the end of a rope 3 with a length of 200 m and floated in the air with a wind speed of 15 m. As a result, it was confirmed by experiments that the rope 3 was still floating in the air with a height of 100 m while maintaining the inclination of about 45 degrees.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention.
A vertical stabilizer 4 is vertically attached to a lower portion of the balloon 1, and main wings 5 and 5 having a cross section of an aircraft wing are horizontally provided on both sides of the lower portion.

In this structure, the balloon 1 filled with helium gas rises due to its buoyancy. When the altitude of the balloon 1 becomes higher and the wind becomes stronger, the main wings 5, 5 having a cross section of an airplane wing are mounted in the horizontal direction, so that the lift force is generated by the wind passing through the main wings 5, 5. Long rope 3 combined with the buoyancy of the enclosed helium gas
The power to pull up increases. Therefore, the stronger the wind is, the higher the lift is. In the stratosphere, a constant wind with a wind speed of about 36 m is blowing from a certain direction, so that it is possible to stably stand still with a large lift.

FIG. 4 shows another embodiment of the present invention.
A vertical stabilizer 4 is attached to the lower portion of the balloon 1, and main wings 5 and 5 are horizontally provided on both sides of the lower portion. Furthermore, a triangular sail 6 is placed above and below the balloon 1.
6 is provided. In this structure, the buoyancy of the balloon itself and the lift of the main wings 5 and 5 are raised, and the sails 6 and 6 are adjusted in the same angle as the sail of a yacht to advance in the direction in which the wind blows. The balloon 1 rises diagonally toward the wind, and the angle of the balloon 1 can be raised even under strong wind.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the present invention.
The rope 3 is used to attach the self-propelled transfer device 10 to the position. The carrier device 10 has a motor and a battery for driving the motor built therein. The rope 3 is sandwiched between a drive pulley 11 connected to the motor and a guide pulley 12, and the rope is rotated by the rotation of the drive pulley 11. It can be moved up and down along 3.

The communication device 7 and the parabolic antenna 8 are mounted on the carrier device 10, and the balloon 1 is carried along the rope 3 in a state of being suspended in the stratosphere so that communication can be performed without winding the rope 3. The device 7 can be easily installed and replaced in the air. If this method is used, only the balloon 1 is raised first, and the communication device 7 is raised after stabilizing the balloon 1 in the air where strong wind is blowing, so that the balloon 1 can be miniaturized.

FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the present invention.
A balloon 1 and a pulley 13 are provided on the ground side along the rope 3.
Attach the lifting rope 14 between them, and
The communication device 7 is connected to the communication device 7 and the lifting rope 14 is rotated to move the communication device 7 to the balloon 1. In this case, the space holders 15 are attached to the rope 3 at predetermined intervals so that the lifting rope 14 does not separate from the rope 3.

As shown in FIG. 7, the space holder 15 is U-shaped.
One end of the character-shaped arm 16 is connected to the rope 3 and
Communication devices 7 connected to the lifting rope 14 while holding the lifting ropes 14, 14 movably between the four guide pulleys 17 attached to the 16 so as to maintain a distance from the rope 3.
Is designed to allow passage through.

In the above embodiment, the case where the invention is applied to the satellite communication system to which the communication device 7 is attached is shown. However, for weather observation, air traffic control, aerial photography, global environment monitoring, etc.
Various measuring instruments such as radar and camera can be attached, and it can also be used for attractions at event venues, and its application range is extremely wide.

[0023]

As described above, according to the fixed satellite balloon according to the present invention, the vertical stabilizer and the communication device are attached to a spherical balloon filled with a gas having a specific gravity lower than that of air, and the rope is fixed on the ground. With a simple structure connected to the tip, it is possible to suspend a satellite equipped with communication equipment and radar equipment in the stratosphere at low cost without using power. Further, a balloon having a main wing or a sail attached thereto has a greater effect of ascending. In addition, since it is connected with a rope, it is easy to collect and maintain the equipment, and it is possible to significantly reduce the cost compared to the conventional launch of an artificial satellite by a rocket or installation of an antenna or radar at a high place. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a fixed satellite balloon according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the influence of wind on a balloon.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a fixed satellite balloon having a main wing according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a fixed satellite balloon equipped with a sail according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a self-propelled transfer device attached to a rope.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a state in which a lifting rope according to another embodiment of the present invention is attached along the rope.

7 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 6 showing a space holder.

[Description of sign]

 1 Balloon 2 Rope winder 3 Rope 4 Vertical stabilizer 5 Main wing 6 Sale 7 Communication device 8 Parabolic antenna 10 Self-propelled carrier device 11 Drive pulley 12 Guide pulley 13 Pulley 14 Lifting rope 15 Spacing device 16 U-shaped Arm 17 guide pulley

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A spherical balloon filled with a gas having a lower specific gravity than air is connected to the tip of a rope fixed on the ground,
A fixed satellite balloon, wherein the balloon is provided with vertical stabilizers and communication equipment such as an antenna and a radar device are mounted on the balloon. 2. The fixed satellite balloon according to claim 1, wherein the balloon is provided with a horizontal main wing. 3. The fixed satellite balloon according to claim 1, wherein sails are provided above and below the balloon. 4. The fixed satellite balloon according to claim 1, wherein the lower end of the rope is connected to a rope winder installed on the ground. 5. The fixed satellite balloon according to claim 1, wherein a lifting rope is attached along the rope between a balloon and a pulley provided on the ground.