RU2333134C2 - Multi-purpose balloon - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: transportation.

SUBSTANCE: balloon has an envelope filled with a gas lighter than air and/or with a hot air, a rigid carcass carrying the said envelope, a nacelle, slings to suspend the nacelle and anchor cables. The nacelle is tightly coupled with the envelope and features a funnel-like widening at its top and a central channel along its lengthwise axis to limit air intake into the envelope. The balloon envelope can be made from conducting material to make an electrode in a storage battery intended for utilisation of atmospheric electricity, or can be used as an antenna, or can house a particular antenna for communication purposes.

EFFECT: expanded potentialities.

2 cl, 4 dwg

Description

The invention relates to aviation and telecommunication technologies, in particular to the use of aircraft lighter than air for the purposes of mobile communications, meteorological observations, observations of the earth's surface and water spaces, and also as a source of electrical energy.

It is known to use aircraft lighter than air to place antennas (US patents 3,045,952 (US class 343/706); 3,979,753 (US class 343/706; 343/714); 3,142,063 (US class 343/706); 3,893,123 (US class 343/706 ; 343/758); 4,903,036 (US class 343/706); 4,999,640 (US class 343/706), which use balloons, balloons, airships as aircraft. The use of aircraft in the form of capsules dropped from aircraft for operational research is also known atmosphere, earth's surface and ocean (RF patent 2254600 MK G01W 1/08).

In the available literature there is no information about the placement on aircraft of the means for generating electricity and the use of aircraft as an integral part of the electricity generation system. There is also no information on the use of balloons to monitor terrain, roads, reserves and other areas of high risk and a higher degree of protection.

A balloon is known having a shell filled with gas lighter than air or hot air, a rigid frame on which the shell is located, a gondola, slings for attaching the gondola and anchor ropes.

The disadvantages of the known ball is the impossibility of long-term autonomous power supply of the equipment inside and outside the ball, the inability to observe the terrain, the leakage of the shell and the nacelle, which leads to the need for frequent heating of the internal air volume in the shell of the ball (when filling the shell with hot air).

The objective of the invention is the creation of a long-running design with minimal cost to maintain its operation in predetermined modes.

As a result of using the proposed invention, the meteorological service acquires reliable sources of information for any kind of short-term forecasts, which are usually difficult to determine; traffic safety services and special services of the Ministry of Internal Affairs acquire the possibility of round-the-clock monitoring in large areas in real time; mobile communication of the country acquires unlimited possibilities of accessibility and use of various transfer protocols for transferring information to any settlements.

In the present invention, the ball consists of an external flexible and airtight shell having several circular bands of durable material for fixing slings of different levels. Slings are rigidly connected to different levels of the gondola to increase its dynamic vertical stability.

In the upper part, the shell has a valve made of breathable fabric for flasking excessive volumes of warm gas inside the ball. The valve is made controllable using a local and / or ground-based remote device. Near the valve there is a lightning rod having its own insulated cable.

In the case when the ball is used as a source of solar energy, the shell of the ball is all or partially made by solar cells, and the main accumulators of electricity accumulated per day are located on the earth's surface. In any case, part of the shell or its entire surface may have the properties of electrical conductivity for use as a lightning rod and / or electrode of a multilevel (or different height) atmospheric battery for utilization of atmospheric electricity with a sufficient potential difference. Similarly, the electrically conductive shell of the ball can serve as an antenna for receiving and transmitting information in the allowable frequency range. In the same way, the shell can be a receptacle of a certain type of antenna, including directional action, for the corresponding type of communication.

The outer part of the shell of the ball has devices for fixing the equipment and observation devices and measuring equipment.

Part of the outer shell can be used for advertising purposes, special devices outside the shell can serve for the same purpose.

The inner shell of the ball is made of heat-insulating and / or reflective material, including the thinnest films with a mirror surface. This embodiment of the inner shells helps to retain heat inside the ball for longer and to extend the intervals between the switching on of heating systems, as well as to use heating systems of lower power, reducing their weight.

Under the shell of the ball is a rigid frame made of light and durable material, which may have electrical conductivity or lack it. To increase the rigidity of the structure, rigidity elements of various configurations with suitable strength characteristics are mounted in the frame. In some cases, stiffening elements play the role of antennas of the corresponding type of communication.

The frame is rigidly connected to the ball nacelle and has a low degree of mobility relative to the gondola or is completely devoid of this mobility. On different floors of the frame are additional sources of heat and gas to maintain the necessary parameters of the internal environment of the ball. The floors of the frame are divided by multipath spacers, which are simultaneously supporting elements of equipment and devices inside the ball.

The basket (gondola) is rigidly and hermetically connected to the core of the ball to reduce wind deflections of the axes of the radiating antennas. This connection also sharply reduces or eliminates the flow of air into the ball when using sealing materials and devices at the joints of the nacelle and the shell of the ball. The penetration of air into the ball is carried out mainly through the central vertical channel of the gondola.

The balloon nacelle extends upward funnel-shaped and is made with a central vertical channel. Powerful heat sources of any nature, including gas, electric, etc., as well as fastening elements of the shell to the gondola, are located on the surface of the funnel-shaped expansion. The outer surfaces of the nacelle and its funnel-shaped expansion have powerful heat-insulating layers of any lightweight materials, including the thinnest films with a mirror surface.

Cables and control ropes are made with thermal protection. The same applies to the elements of control systems and intermediate energy storage. The main accumulators of electricity accumulated per day (for powering the equipment in the dark) are located on the earth's surface. On cloudy days, electricity is supplied from the ground.

Anchor ropes, fixing the ball at a certain height and a certain place in space, bifurcating when approaching the ball, are attached at two points, one of which is located at the base of the gondola, and the second on the upper circular tape for attaching the slings. The outlet extending from the anchor rope itself, in turn, is fixed by a stretch. Such fixation of the ball by anchor ropes and bends from it increases its vertical stability. The earthly end of the anchor rope is fixed to ground anchors, which can perform other functions, for example, as a room for equipment, laboratories, warehouses, etc.

Anchor ropes are made with the possibility of transmission of electricity by resonant methods to reduce the weight of the conductors of electrical energy. In some cases, anchor ropes are made in the form of tubes for supplying gases and gas mixtures from the ground to change the lifting characteristics of the ball both by the direct presence of gases (for example, helium) in its cavity, and for supplying gas burners (for example, using methane, propane and etc.).

At one or more levels of the carcass, directional and non-directional antennas of the appropriate type of communication (for example, mobile communications, radio communications and / or broadcasting) are installed. Directional antennas are performed with elements of spatial stabilization and / or orientation, taking into account the wind deformations of the ball with different wind forces.

For meteorological purposes, an omnidirectional antenna of the spiral type with an antenna cable and an antenna installation complex, a system unit and GPS 30 receiver-indicator can be used as an omnidirectional antenna, as such an object. Such an antenna does not require orientation and stabilization in the direction of an artificial earth satellite and can work on reception and transmission with a strong roll of the gondola.

The invention is presented in figures 1, 2, 3, 4.

Figure 1 shows the balloon 1 on the anchor ropes 2, mounted on the ground anchors 3. The upper end of the anchor rope has an outlet 4 with a fixed extension 5.

Figure 2 presents in more detail the external design of the ball.

The outer shell 6 has several circular strips 7 of durable material for fixing the slings 8 of different levels. The uppermost section 9 of the shell is made in the form of a valve with local and / or remote control. The upper part 10 of the shell of the ball is made with solar cells.

The gondola 11 in the lower part of the shell of the ball has a funnel-shaped extension 12 and a central channel 13.

Figure 3 presents a part of the interior design of the ball.

The shell of the ball is on a rigid inner frame 14 having stiffeners 15 of different configurations. Along the central axis of the ball is a stabilization device 16 of communication antennas 17 and / or television surveillance cameras with its local coordination system 18 in space.

In any part of the frame, heat-protected elements 19 of autonomous control of the operation of systems and devices inside the ball are made. Control cables and cables 20 are made with thermal protection and fire safety. A lightning rod 21 is made at the top of the ball.

Figure 4 presents a plot of terrain with a complex terrain, which can easily be monitored and provided with telemetry data using the proposed balloons. Balls with ground bases 22, one of which is located near the settlement 23 with the railway 24 and highways 25 passing through it, and the other is located on a hill 26, allow monitoring the roads over a long distance, bridge 27 across the river 28.

This type of monitoring of the terrain allows not only providing residents of this region with good communication, but also effectively searching for stolen cars, hiding criminals and fighting terrorists, that is, realizing the necessary control over the terrain.

With a balloon suspension height of 3000 meters, the ground bases of the balloons can be located at a distance of 15-25 and even 35-40 km from each other, which makes it worthwhile to use the invention even for mobile communications alone.

The proposed invention works as follows.

The shell 1 is filled with gas lighter than air for the initial lifting of the ball to the working height and to facilitate the placement of measuring and telemetry equipment on the surface of the ball, as well as to check the cables and connecting nodes. Before the ball rises to its working height, the elements of heating the gas mixture inside the ball are turned on to increase the lifting force of the structure and to check the heating system of the internal gas volume. The operation of the valve system (in particular, valve 9) and the air intake through the central channel 13 are checked. During the smooth rise of the ball to the working height, the operation of the antennas, telecommunication equipment and internal ball devices (for example, stabilization elements 16 of the antenna position and their coordination 18 space). After the balloon is brought to its working height, a remote check and adjustment of the operation of the solar batteries 10 begins. The fully tested and debugged balloon complex begins to function for a long time in the set modes.

The description is given regarding one form of the aircraft lighter than air - a balloon. It is important to keep in mind that in Russian the balloon is called airborne due to existing semantic habits, but this does not at all determine the composition of the gas mixture inside the balloon and is not a qualitative determining attribute in relation to the shape of the object. In place of the balloon there may be a balloon, an airship and, in particular, a huge cigar-shaped object (a sleeve balloon), which can be located both horizontally and vertically.

Claims (2)

1. A multifunctional balloon having a shell filled with gas lighter than air and / or hot air, a rigid frame on which the shell is located, a gondola, slings for attaching the gondola and anchor ropes, characterized in that the gondola is sealed to the shell and has a funnel-shaped extension above and the central channel along the vertical axis for a limited flow of air into the shell, and the shell of the ball can be electrically conductive and serve as an electrode in the battery for recycling atmospheric electric substances, and also be used directly as an antenna or to be a receptacle of an antenna of the corresponding type of communications. 2. The ball according to claim 1, characterized in that the shell of the ball is wholly or partially made by solar cells, the main accumulators of electricity accumulated per day being located on the earth's surface and on cloudy days, the equipment is fed with electricity from the earth.

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