The Rise of the Modern Airships

airships are taking to the skies again this time the impetus is sustainable transport and the advantages improved technology in this video we're going to look at different developments across the world that are happening to balloon these gigantic flying machines back in the skies safely and securely on this channel electric Aviation we bring for you all the latest about sustainable Air transport subscribe to get all the latest information believe it or not the last time airships were mainstream the cells used for containing gas were made out of animal intestine the materials technology was way behind what we know today the frame of the Airship was made of duralumen which was one of the lightest available materials at the time with density of 2.7 to 2.8 grams per cubic centimeter the carbon fiber Composites used today in aviation industry are much lighter with density of 1.5 to 1.9 grams per cubic centimeter which is almost 30 to 50 percent lighter in the Hindenburg the four daimler-benz 16 cylinder engines with a maximum horsepower of 1320 each and crew setting of 850 each weighed 782 kilograms today the modern powertrain with 1000 horsepower output weighs less than 300 kilograms now we also have computational fluid dynamics at our disposal that allows us to create much better optimized shapes than developed before furthermore at present we can see synergize the propulsion system with the a-shaped geometry to create much more efficient and faster airships than ever before an example of this is the uni blimp that has been developed by RC blim in this aircraft the main proposer is an electric motor which is connected to a large propeller placed on the nose of the blimp the placement of the propulsor on the nose has resulted in two advantages firstly a propulsor along the horizontal axis of the blend has the least efflux losses and also drag is reduced there is also the advantage of higher degree of control this is because the distance between the drive motor and the control surfaces at the back is maximized therefore minimum displacement of the aileron strongly deflects the uniblimp and 3D space at present the 10 meter long uni blimp is capable of delivering a payload of Just 2 kilograms but as it goes with blimps and airships following the square Cube law the performance of a blimp gets better as it gets bigger the eventual goal of the uniblimp is to transport cargo across the Atlantic purely on solar power for this purpose lightweight and flexible solar cells have been acquired that will be embedded in the envelope of the uniblim the blimp will fly on solar power during the day in the night time it will be powered by batteries similarly a company called eblimp is also offering a six meter long 800 watt solar blend and are currently developing a thousand watt 8 meter long blim these blimps are able to have control flight for as long as the sun is out they also charge the batteries when flying at low speeds solar power will play a huge part in modern airships most of the times solar energy will be converted into electrical energy but did you know that experiments have been done in which solar energy has been used to heat up the lifting gas making it less dense and more buoyant in the aircraft's call solar balloons the inside air is heated by means of solar radiation usually with the help of black or dark balloon material a vent at the top can be open for descent and deflation interestingly man flights using solar balloons were already done back in the 1970s in one design a balloon was made by a spiral tube Fabric in a tetrahedron shape Tracy Barnes used this balloon and completed the first human carrying Pure Solar balloon flight on the 1st of May 1973. this was followed up by a solar balloon designed by Dominic Michaelis called the GB AVU this solar balloon's envelope worked in tandem a transparent surface allowed air to flow in enabling a greenhouse effect and absorbed the trapped solar radiation from the black envelope the GB AVU balloon was used to cross the English Channel on 22nd August 1981. moving on to larger scale Vehicles we will now look at the Modern airships that are being developed across the world they include the Pathfinder one the Zeppelin NT the lca60t the airlander 10 and the H2 Clipper the Pathfinder one is being backed up by Google co-founder Sergey Brin this 121 meter long Airship is equipped all around with state-of-the-art technology to get the highest performance it is powered by 12 electrical motors to give exceptional directional control a lidar sensor continuously and accurately calculates the volume of helium to help Pilots balance the airship for the outer cover laminated toddler is used with a strong lightweight non-flammable and UV resistant the Mainframe is made of titanium Hub joints and carbon reinforced polymer tubes there are 13 separate helium bags which are made from ripstop nylon base fabric with a urethane coating the Pathfinder one will have a payload capacity of 4 tons next up we have the Zeppelin NT they are a class of 75.1 meter airships that have been operational since the 1990s they carry 12 passengers and two crew members for sightseeing tours in Germany the payload capacity is 1900 kilograms the most unique feature of this Airship is a swiveling propeller these propellers are used for trust factoring which allows the Airship to go forward and even backwards rotate and take off vertically the Zeppelin NT has a maximum speed of about 125 kilometers per hour or 78 miles per hour but usually cruises at about half that speed when used for sightseeing and tourism discipline and T is powered by four separate 197 horsepower gasoline-powered engines there is a larger version of this Airship being developed the Zeppelin nt14 which would be a 19 seater a little further away from Germany the lca60t is being developed by a startup called Flying whales in France it is quite large with a length of 198 meters and uses one megawatt Honeywell generators for its hybrid electric propulsion system the lca60t would have 14 gas cells filled with helium to provide airships lift which will give a payload capacity of 60 tons the company plans for its first test flights in the year 2025. the most renowned modern Airship is the airlander 10. most recently it has been in the news because it is being planned to be used for luxury flights from UK to the Mediterranean by the year 2027. each flight will accommodate up to 100 passengers the airlander 10 is a hybrid Airship which achieves lift and thereby flight via both aerostatic and aerodynamic forces it will have a 10 ton payload capacity and finally we have the H2 clipper which is a newcomer and is the only Airship that plans to use hydrogen as the lifting gas the main reason for this is because it will be more of a hydrogen Transportation vehicle in the emerging hydrogen energy paradigm it is being dubbed as the hydrogen pipeline in the sky that will deliver hydrogen to remote areas the Clipper will have a lifting capacity of 20 tons and will have a cruising range of over 6500 miles it is also an Airship with the highest speed that is up to 225 miles per hour when developed the H2 Clipper can disrupt the cargo transport sector the Clipper is a huge ship that is 1000 feet or 304 meter long a 40 scale prototype is being developed that will be flight tested in 2025. the very Advanced design of the Clipper was developed through a technique called generative design in this technique the AI software looks at millions of options to overcome the given constraints it then draws out an optimal design the H2 Clipper also features a propeller on the center line but on the rear side there are many factors that are aligning for bringing back airships in our skies billionaires are investing legislation is favorable and the economics are lucrative for a shifts that will be relying on solar energy for propulsion scientists have most recently published a study on optimal routes for the Airship for cargo transport the research team have mapped out highways across the ocean using wind data and solar availability to further influence the airship's journey these routes snake into the North Atlantic in the summer and plummet towards the equator in the winter All In Search of the optimum amount of solar energy during Transit at present there is a ban on the use of hydrogen in USA for use as a lifting gas but there has been advocacy to repeal the law given that we now have census that can detect the leakage and outer gas cells and covers are now made up of non-flammable materials solar Balloons with gas burners even hydrogen burners can also be looked for carbo transport so what do you think about modern airships will they fly do let me know in the comment section and with this the video is concluded if you learned something from it then please do give it a thumbs up thank you for your attention

Channel: Electric Aviation

Views: 13,872

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Id: 6j1HbXfh_To

Length: 11min 0sec (660 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 23 2023