335results about "Lighter-than-air aircraft" patented technology

An unmanned air vehicle for military, land security and the like operations includes a fuselage provided with foldable wings having leading edge flaps and trailing edge ailerons which are operable during ascent from launch to control the flight pattern with the wings folded, the wings being deployed into an open unfolded position when appropriate. The vehicle is contained within a pod from which it is launched and a landing deck is provided to decelerate and arrest the vehicle upon its return to land.

A portable unmanned air vehicle and launcher system is provided that includes a foldable unmanned air vehicle having a pressure tube; a launch gas reservoir for holding launch gas; a launch tube operatively connected to the launch gas reservoir and having a free end that is positioned in the pressure tube of the air vehicle; a free piston positioned within the launch tube; and a free piston stop to prevent the free piston from leaving the launch tube. A first portion of the launch gas in the launch gas reservoir is released into the launch tube and forces the free piston from an initial position to an end position at which the free piston is stopped by the free piston stop.

An integrated solar and wind energy conversion system that is carried aloft by an aerostat / balloon, which is filled with lighter-than-air gas or hot air comprises solar panel array and wind turbine array to convert solar radiation and wind power into usable and renewable energy for on and / or off-grid application or storage. The solar panel array includes at least one of the flexible solar panel and spray on solar composite or combinations thereof. The present invention requires minimal land mass, can be deployed in remote areas, it can be deployed as permanent, semi-permanent, or temporary configurations. The present invention uses computers to automate many of the systems function for maximum energy harvesting. The present invention can be used both day and night.

The invention discloses an all-in-one anchoring trailer, and belongs to ground devices of medium and small-sized tethered balloons. The all-in-one anchoring vehicle comprises a semitrailer chassis, a pivoting platform fixed on the semitrailer chassis through a pivoting support and a mooring tower, a plurality of horizontal support arms and a capsule box which are arranged on the pivoting platform, and also comprises a shelter fixed to the front part of the pivoting platform, wherein a winch system is arranged in the shelter; the mooring tower is arranged at the front end of the pivoting platform; the horizontal support arms are hinged on both sides of the rear end of the pivoting platform; and the capsule box is fixed to the rear part of the pivoting platform. In the all-in-one anchoring trailer, all-in-one operation such as aeration, anchoring, levitation, air retention, recovery, roll-up and the like of the medium and small-sized tethered balloons can be performed on the pivoting platform directly, so the maneuverability of a tethered balloon system is improved greatly, the time of unfolding the system is reduced, the operation is simplified, the efficiency is improved and the quick-response capability of the tethered balloons is enhanced.

A system for efficiently transporting hydrogen from where it can be economically made to where it is most needed using specially designed airships. Technologies such as geothermal, wind, solar, wave tidal or hydropower can be used to generate electricity in-situ or very near to the primary energy sources. This electricity can then be used to produce hydrogen directly from water through various methods known in the art. Hydrogen can be delivered from the place where it is produced to the place where it is needed using an airship in which the hydrogen gas can also be used for generating lift, providing propulsion energy and serving ancillary needs. In other embodiments of the invention, the airship of the present invention can be used to dramatically reduce the cost of transportation of freight, the cost of passenger transportation, and to save on the area required for landing at the points of loading / unloading and embarkation / debarkation. And in another embodiment, the airship of the present invention can be used for transporting water and food to areas where needed. A unique docking system can use a remotely piloted unmanned aircraft flown from the mother craft to carry a guide line into a receiving attachment point.

The present invention is the flying control system and method for semi-autonomous flying of unattended aeroboat. The control system includes aeroboat borne system and ground system, the aeroboat borne system has structure comprising sensors, A / D converter, monolithic computer, analog multiplexer, executor, aeroboat borne data transmission module, remote controlled signal receiver, etc. connected together; and the ground system has PC, ground data transmission module and remote signal emitter. The aeroboat borne data transmission module and the remote controlled signal receiver in the aeroboat borne system associate with the ground data transmission module and the remote signal emitter of the ground system via RF signal. The control system can identify the mode channel signal and realize the mode switching among remote control, local remote control and autonomous flying.

The method for generating an integrated guidance law for aerodynamic missiles uses a strength Pareto evolutionary algorithm (SPEA)-based approach for generating an integrated fuzzy guidance law, which includes three separate fuzzy controllers. Each of these fuzzy controllers is activated in a unique region of missile interception. The distribution of membership functions and the associated rules are obtained by solving a nonlinear constrained multi-objective optimization problem in which final time, energy consumption, and miss distance are treated as competing objectives. A Tabu search is utilized to build a library of initial feasible solutions for the multi-objective optimization algorithm. Additionally, a hierarchical clustering technique is utilized to provide the decision maker with a representative and manageable Pareto-optimal set without destroying the characteristics of the trade-off front. A fuzzy-based system is employed to extract the best compromise solution over the trade-off curve.

The invention provides an ultra-light, weather-resistant and high-strength stratosphere skin material which has high strength and weatherability, relating to skin materials. The ultra-light stratosphere skin material consists of a weather-resistant layer, a force bearing layer, a block layer and a heat sealing layer from outside to inside. Vectran fiber 200 Daniel plain woven fabric with ultra-high strength is selected and used as the force bearing layer, the Vectran fiber 200 Daniel plain woven fabric has the strength about 6 times as high as that of common polyesters, and the light weight of 54 g / m<2> and the thickness of 0.16 mm. The produced stratosphere skin material has ultra-light mass.

The present invention relates to an aircraft and to a method of getting the aircraft onto station. According to the invention, said aircraft (1) includes propulsion means (2) capable only of enabling said aircraft (1) to move and to orient itself at high altitude, and said aircraft (1) is taken to its station in the high atmosphere, in particular in the stratosphere, by means of an independent transporter (3).

Vehicles, systems, and methods are disclosed for providing and directing first power, such as vehicle generator power, and alternate sources of power. In a particular embodiment, a vehicle includes a power distribution grid that includes a plurality of power sources and a plurality of distributions buses configured to distribute power from the plurality of power sources. The plurality of power sources include an engine-driven power source is configured to provide first power where the first power has first power characteristics. The plurality of power sources also includes a plurality of engine-independent power sources including a first alternate power source configured to provide first alternate power. The first alternate power has first alternate power characteristics that are different than the first power characteristics. The plurality of engine-independent power sources also includes a second alternate power source configured to provide second alternate power. The second alternate power has second alternate power characteristics that are different from the first power characteristics and different from the first alternate power characteristics. The vehicle also includes a global controller that sends control signals to control generation of power by the engine-driven power source, the first alternate power source and the second alternate power source via the plurality of distribution buses responsive to power demand of the power distribution grid.

A system for efficiently transporting hydrogen from where it can be economically made to where it is most needed using specially designed airships. Technologies such as geothermal, wind, solar, wave tidal or hydropower can be used to generate electricity in-situ or very near to the primary energy sources. This electricity can then be used to produce hydrogen directly from water through various methods known in the art. Hydrogen can be delivered from the place where it is produced to the place where it is needed using an airship in which the hydrogen gas can also be used for generating lift, providing propulsion energy and serving ancillary needs. In other embodiments of the invention, the airship of the present invention can be used to dramatically reduce the cost of transportation of freight, the cost of passenger transportation, and to save on the area required for landing at the points of loading / unloading and embarkation / debarkation. And in another embodiment, the airship of the present invention can be used for transporting water and food to areas where needed. A unique docking system can use a remotely piloted unmanned aircraft flown from the mother craft to carry a guide line into a receiving attachment point.

A system for controlling yaw associated with an airship may include one or more vertical control surfaces associated with the airship, a first power source and a second power source, each configured to provide a thrust associated with the airship, and a yaw control configured to receive an input indicative of a desired yaw angle. The system may further include a controller communicatively connected to the yaw control, the one or more vertical control surfaces, and the first and second power sources. The controller may be configured to receive an output signal from the yaw control corresponding to the desired yaw angle and to generate a control signal configured to modify a state associated with at least one of the one or more vertical control surfaces, the first power source, and the second power source, such that the airship substantially attains the desired yaw angle.

The disclosed embodiments relate to methods and systems for requesting and retrieving aircraft data during flight of an aircraft. This aircraft data can be used to perform additional monitoring of aircraft sub-systems to detect an abnormal condition, and / or to identify one or more sources that are causing the abnormal condition. In one embodiment, aircraft data for one or more relevant parameters can be requested from the ground, measured on-board the aircraft, and stored in a data file that is then communicated back to personnel on the ground. The real-time aircraft data for one or more relevant parameters can then be analyzed to identify the one or more sources that are causing the abnormal condition.

The control optimization method for helicopters carrying suspended loads during hover flight utilizes a controller based on time-delayed feedback of the load swing angles. The controller outputs include additional displacements, which are added to the helicopter trajectory in the longitudinal and lateral directions. This simple implementation requires only a small modification to the software of the helicopter position controller. Moreover, the implementation of this controller does not need rates of the swing angles. The parameters of the controllers are optimized using the method of particle swarms by minimizing an index that is a function of the history of the load swing. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the controller in suppressing the swing of the slung load while stabilizing the helicopter.

The invention relates to a deflector for an aircraft, comprising a discharge pipe for leading a fluid to be drained from the aircraft by way of an outlet end to the environment of the aircraft; an actuator, coupled to the discharge pipe, for swinging out, when required, the discharge pipe to at least one activation position, wherein in the activation position the outlet end is arranged so as to be spaced apart from the exterior skin of the aircraft, and the deflector guides the fluid to be drained so that it exits outside a flow boundary layer that is present on the exterior skin. The deflector according to the invention is activated when required and is able to discharge structure-damaging fluids to the environment in such a way that the exterior structure of the aircraft does not become wet, and at the same time the deflector according to the invention, normally accommodated within the contour of the aircraft, does not result in any additional aerodynamic resistance.

The invention relates to a power mooring observation platform system, which consists of a ground part, an aerial platform part and interconnected mooring cables, wherein the ground part comprises a power supply system, a ground control system and an image receiving and processing system; the ground control system is connected with the mooring cables and wirelessly communicates with the aerial platform part; the image receiving and processing system wirelessly communicates with the aerial platform part and is used for receiving and processing image information; the aerial platform part comprises an aerial power supply system, an aerial control system, a power system, a monitoring system and a fixed connector; the aerial power supply system is connected with the mooring cables and connected with the power system, the aerial control system and the monitoring system; the aerial control system wirelessly communicates with the ground control system and is connected with the power system; and the monitoring system is used for acquiring the image information and wirelessly communicates with the image receiving and processing system of the ground part. Control and power are provided for an aerial platform by adopting the mooring cables, so the system is strong in flexibility and strong in maneuverability, and does not require landing supply.

A missile includes a control system having divert and attitude control system thrusters with control valves. Each of the control valves has a nozzle plate having a plurality of small nozzles therein. The nozzle plate includes a pair of portions, one of which is rotatable relative to the other. Control of flow through the nozzle plate may be effected by relative positioning of the portions of the nozzle plate. An upstream convergent portion of the nozzle plate may be fixed relative to the missile, with a downstream throat and / or divergent portion of the nozzle plate moveable. Movement of the movable portion of the nozzle plate may be accomplished by use of an actuator that is external to the missile body. The control valve provides a simple, lightweight and compact way of controlling flow from a divert thruster.

A missile includes a control system having divert and attitude control system thrusters with control valves. Each of the control valves has a nozzle plate having a plurality of small nozzles therein. The nozzle plate includes a pair of portions, one of which is rotatable relative to the other. Control of flow through the nozzle plate may be effected by relative positioning of the portions of the nozzle plate. An upstream convergent portion of the nozzle plate may be fixed relative to the missile, with a downstream throat and / or divergent portion of the nozzle plate moveable. Movement of the movable portion of the nozzle plate may be accomplished by use of an actuator that is external to the missile body. The control valve provides a simple, lightweight and compact way of controlling flow from a divert thruster.

The invention relates to a vision-based fixed point robust control method for an airship, which comprises the following steps of: defining a ground coordinate system, an aircraft body coordinate system, a speed coordinate system and an image coordinate system and determining a mounting mode of an airborne camera on the basis; extracting an attitude angle of the airship according to the projectivegeometry principle; obtaining a nonlinear equations set containing the attribute and the position of the airship according to a binocular vision parallax principle; and substituting the attitude angle obtained in the second step into the nonlinear equations set to obtain the position of the airship. By adopting the robust self-adaptive fixed point control scheme for designing the airship by adopting a Backstepping method as well as a Backstepping control scheme provided by analyzing and proving, the bounded stability of a closed loop system can be effectively ensured; and the attitude angle and the position information obtained on the basis of an image are combined with control so that the closed loop control is realized. In the vision-based fixed point robust control method, the positionand attribute information extracted by using a position and attribute estimation algorithm is loaded into an airship fixed point control technology to realize the vision-based control to the fixed points of the airship.

The present invention provides a method, comprising: providing an aerial platform having an outer shell; disposing a gas containment system within the outer shell; attaching the aerial platform to an object using a tether system; and inflating the aerial platform and lifting a payload; wherein the aerial platform is configured such that it may be completely collapsed when deployed.

The invention discloses a vehicle-mounted mooring system for large and medium-sized captive balloons. The vehicle-mounted mooring system for the large and medium-sized captive balloons comprises a mooring module, a mooring tower module and a tail platform module, wherein through adoption of a square cabin with an internal framework structure, bearing requirements are satisfied and the height in a transporting state does not exceed the limit on the premise of ensuring available working height in the cabin; through adoptions of a rotating and folding type anti-overturning outrigger and a tail extended outrigger which is concealed in a semi-trailer girder, a distance between a front supporting point and a rear supporting point and a distance between a left supporting point and a right supporting point can be greatly increased to satisfy index requirements on wind resistance ability and stability of the large-sized captive balloon and satisfy that the large-sized captive balloon in a folded state can adapt to dimension limitation of highway transportation; and as a telescopic platform is included in the tail platform, a distance between mooring points in front of and behind the mooring system reaches more than 30 m after the tail platform is spliced with the square cabin so that the mooring system can be used for mooring more than 10000 m3 captive balloons. A problem that positional captive balloons cannot be transported to other sites due to suffering geographical limitations of preset positions is solved; and a problem that the use performance and function of the traditional vehicle-mounted captive balloon are limited due to small balloon volume is also solved.

A system for controlling yaw associated with an airship may include one or more vertical control surfaces associated with the airship, a first power source and a second power source, each configured to provide a thrust associated with the airship, and a yaw control configured to receive an input indicative of a desired yaw angle. The system may further include a controller communicatively connected to the yaw control, the one or more vertical control surfaces, and the first and second power sources. The controller may be configured to receive an output signal from the yaw control corresponding to the desired yaw angle and to generate a control signal configured to modify a state associated with at least one of the one or more vertical control surfaces, the first power source, and the second power source, such that the airship substantially attains the desired yaw angle.

A novel device of a tethered balloon mainly relates to the tethered balloon. The novel device of the tethered balloon comprises a supporting device, a rotary table, a work bench, a pole, a first guide roller, a cable deploying and retracting device and the tethered balloon, wherein the cable deploying and retracting device comprises a screw and a screw nut carrier; a motor forward-rotating switch, a motor reversely-rotating switch, a polished rod positioned in front of the screw, and a sliding seat installed on the polished rod are installed on the screw nut carrier; an oscillating bar is installed on a vertical shaft of the sliding seat; a second guide roller is installed at the front end of the oscillating bar; the sliding seat and the screw nut carrier are connected together by a connection plate; a cable rolling barrel is arranged in front of the second guide roller. The novel device of the tethered balloon has the advantages that the screw nut carrier is always maintained at a state at which the screw nut carrier is constantly adjusted and moves synchronically along with a twisted rope of the cable rolling barrel, in the out-of-step condition, cable rolling enters an out-of-step temporary adjustment process, then synchronization is quickly reached, the screw nut carrier always moves along with cable arrangement on the cable rolling barrel to realize "synchronous following-up", and thus the "out-of-step self-adjustment" function in the cable arrangement process is fulfilled. When the screw nut carrier is operated to one end of the screw and needs to return, as a cable enters a return stacking state, the tail end of the oscillating bar approaches the switch on the other side, and thus a motor is operated in a reverse direction.

The invention provides a hybrid power airship adopting inflated wings and cycloidal propellers. The hybrid power airship comprises an airship body, a thin film solar cell array and an oxygen-hydrogen fuel battery pack, cycloidal propeller thrusters, inflated wings, a V-shaped empennage, undercarriages, a load cabin and a control system, wherein the thin film solar cell array is covered on the upper surface of the airship body, the plurality of cycloidal propeller thrusters are symmetrically arranged at two sides of the airship body along a longitudinal symmetric surface of the airship body, a drive device of the cycloidal propeller thrusters is positioned in the airship body, the V-shaped empennage is fixed at the tail part of the airship body, the undercarriages are arranged at the bottom of the airship by adopting a front-three-point manner, the inflated wings are positioned at the left side and the right side of the airship body, and the load cabin and the oxygen-hydrogen fuel battery pack are positioned at the belly part of the airship body. According to the hybrid power airship, the cycloidal propellers, the airship and the inflated wings are combined so that helium bags with high cost do not need to be installed in the airship body, the volume of the airship is reduced, and the weight and cost are saved; by using the cycloidal propellers as propelling devices of the airship and forming a compound control system together with the V-shaped empennage, the control responding speed of the airship is increased.

The invention relates to the anchoring field of captive balloons, in particular to an anchoring and releasing device used for automatic inflatable deployment of a small captive balloon. The captive balloon is provided with a mooring cable used for adjusting the lifting height of the balloon and an anchoring cable used for maintaining the upper air position of the balloon. The anchoring and releasing device comprises a winch used for operating the mooring cable of the captive balloon and a nasal tower used for fixing the anchoring cable of the captive balloon and is characterized in that the anchoring and releasing device further comprises a frame and a ball box arranged above the frame and used for loading the captive balloon, and the ball box comprises a ball box body, a left cover board rotationally connected with the left side wall of the ball box body and a right cover board rotationally connected with the right side wall of the ball box body. By the adoption of the provided anchoring and releasing device, inflatable deployment of the captive ball can be achieved, operation is simple, safety is high, and transportation and field transfer are convenient.

The present invention provides an aerostat mooring platform at the stratosphere. The aerostat mooring platform at the stratosphere comprises intermediate aerostats and a top aerostat which are successively connected to a mooring line. The mooring line is fixed to a ground mooring line deploying and retracting device, and the intermediate aerostats are slideably connected to the mooring line through a height adjustment device. By applying the aerostat mooring platform at the stratosphere, the net buoyance of the aerostats can be effectively improved, and the mooring platform can suspend at the stratosphere for a longer period.