Captive balloon kite of airfoil structure

Abstract

The invention provides a captive balloon kite with a wing-shaped structure, which belongs to the field of novel floating aircrafts and comprises a wing-shaped air bag, a load cabin, a tail decoration, a vertical tail, a horizontal rod, a vertical rod, a lifting line and a flying line. The shape of the captive balloon is of a wing-shaped structure, wing-shaped aerodynamic lift force and helium buoyancy force can cooperatively work, the size of an air bag is effectively reduced, the load ratio of a platform system is increased, and in cooperation with aerodynamic stabilizer structures such as a tail strap and a vertical fin, the orientation of the platform system can still be adjusted according to the incoming flow direction, airflow disturbance is restrained, and the service life of the platform system is prolonged. The platform system stability is ensured.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of new floating air vehicles, and particularly to a moored balloon with an airfoil-shaped appearance structure. Background Art

[0002] A moored balloon is a type of aerostat that uses a gas lighter than air to generate buoyancy and float in the air. Due to its long hovering time and low cost, it has become a common long-term fixed-point monitoring aerial platform, widely used in both military and civilian fields. According to market demand, moored balloons with a large load-carrying ratio are more competitive in the market. Traditional moored balloons mostly adopt a streamlined rotary body structure, with low aerodynamic efficiency, weak crosswind resistance, poor hovering stability, but strong load-carrying capacity. Traditional kites rely on aerodynamic forces to provide lift and can perform hovering operations in strong wind environments, with strong wind resistance and good hovering stability, but weak load-carrying capacity. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The object of the present invention is to propose a moored balloon with a large load-carrying ratio and stable hovering. By combining the functional advantages of the airfoil structure, moored balloon, and kite, it realizes hovering operations with double lift forces of buoyancy (such as helium) and aerodynamic force, effectively reducing the helium-filled volume of the moored balloon, thereby reducing the total weight of the platform system, effectively improving the load-carrying ratio, being able to perform hovering operations using buoyancy at low wind speeds, and in strong wind environments, the aerodynamic lift generated by the airfoil structure can supplement and increase the total lift of the platform system, enhancing the stability of the platform system and improving the problem of insufficient stability of conventional rotary moored balloons.

[0004] The moored balloon with an airfoil structure of the present invention includes: an airfoil-shaped airbag, a payload compartment, a tail appendage, a vertical fin, a horizontal rod, a vertical rod, a suspension line, and a release line.

[0005] Preferably, the moored balloon has an airfoil-shaped outer shape and is structurally shaped by rib plates inside to form multiple through air chambers.

[0006] Preferably, the airfoil-shaped airbag adopts a high-strength ultra-light covering material.

[0007] Preferably, the tail appendage adopts an ultra-light flexible material, with its front end connected to the rear end of the airfoil-shaped airbag. Through the support of the rear end of the airfoil-shaped airbag and the horizontal rod, the front half of the tail appendage forms a tensioned membrane surface horizontal stabilizer, while the unsupported rear half of the tail appendage can freely damp and swing under aerodynamic action to assist in adjusting the platform attitude.

[0008] According to another embodiment of the present invention, the suffix can adopt a combined structure of "airbag + ultra-light flexible material". A non-rotating body airbag with a covering structure is connected to the rear end of the airfoil airbag 1 as a horizontal stabilizer, and then a suffix 2 is connected to the rear end of the non-rotating body airbag to assist in adjusting the attitude of the platform.

[0009] Preferably, a vertical fin is fixed to the bottom of the airfoil airbag. The vertical fin is made of ultra-light flexible material, and the flexible material of the vertical fin is tensioned by a horizontal rod and a vertical rod to form a vertical stabilizer.

[0010] Preferably, a pod is installed at the bottom of the airfoil airbag.

[0011] In summary, the advantages of the present invention are as follows: under the condition that the total buoyancy of the platform system is certain, the inflation volume of the non-rotating tethered balloon with an airfoil structure is relatively smaller, thereby effectively improving the platform load ratio. Moreover, by using the airfoil structure in combination with the stabilizer, the operation stability of the platform system can be effectively improved. Description of the Drawings

[0012] By reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiments below, various other advantages and benefits will become clear to those of ordinary skill in the art. The drawings are used to illustrate the preferred embodiments and other obvious embodiments, and are not considered to be a limitation of the present invention. Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals are used to represent the same components.

[0013] Figure 1 Isometric schematic diagram of the overall structure of the tethered balloon kite with an airfoil structure according to the present invention;

[0014] Figure 2 Front view schematic diagram of the overall structure of the tethered balloon kite with an airfoil structure according to the present invention;

[0015] Figure 3 Internal structure schematic diagram of the airfoil airbag according to the present invention;

[0016] Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the suffix being triangular in another embodiment according to the present invention;

[0017] Figure 5 Schematic diagram of multiple vertical fins of the tethered balloon kite with an airfoil structure in another embodiment according to the present invention;

[0018] Figure 6 Three-view schematic diagram of the suffix adopting a combined structure of "airbag + ultra-light flexible material" in another embodiment according to the present invention;

[0019] Figure 7 Schematic diagram of the tethered balloon kite with an airfoil structure without a suffix and without a vertical fin in another embodiment according to the present invention. Specific Embodiment

[0020] Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be limited by the embodiments set forth herein. On the contrary, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure can be more thoroughly understood and the scope of the present disclosure can be completely conveyed to those skilled in the art.

[0021] According to an embodiment provided by the present invention, a mooring balloon kite with an airfoil structure is proposed. As Figure 1 and Figure 2 shown, the overall structure of the mooring balloon kite of the present invention includes: an airfoil-shaped airbag 1, a payload compartment 7, a trailing edge 2, a vertical fin 4, a horizontal bar 3, a vertical bar 5, a suspension line 6, and a flying line 8.

[0022] The airfoil-shaped airbag 1 provided according to the present invention adopts an airfoil structure. Its airfoil structure features that in a windy environment, airflows flow through the upper and lower surfaces of the airfoil to form a pressure difference, generating lift, which can assist in supplementing buoyancy; at the same time, the lower surface of the airfoil can act as a kite covering, enhancing the stability of the platform system. As Figure 3 shown, the inside of the airfoil-shaped airbag 1 is maintained in a sectional shape by rib plates 14, 15, 16, and 17, so that the appearance of the airbag remains in an airfoil shape in the inflated state, and at the same time, the internal space of the airbag is partitioned into a plurality of through chambers 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. The airfoil-shaped airbag 1 can adjust the shape change after inflation by adding or subtracting the number of rib plates, reducing the resistance caused by inflation deformation.

[0023] According to an embodiment provided by the present invention, as Figure 1 shown, the front end of the trailing edge 2 is connected to the rear end of the airfoil-shaped airbag 1, the horizontal bar 3 is fixed to the rear end of the airfoil-shaped airbag 1, the front half section of the trailing edge 2 covers the horizontal bar 3 and is fixedly connected. The horizontal bar 3 plays a cantilever support role for the membrane surface of the front half section of the trailing edge 2, making the front half section of the trailing edge 2 form a membranous structure with tension, acting as a horizontal stabilizer, increasing the vertical wind resistance, generating a restoring moment, suppressing the up and down pitching of the airbag in the vertical wind, and ensuring the pitching stability of the system; while the unsupported rear half section of the membrane surface of the trailing edge 2 can freely damp and swing under the action of the airflow, assisting in adjusting the attitude of the airbag. According to another embodiment provided by the present invention, as Figure 6 shown, the trailing edge 2 can adopt a combined structure form of "airbag + ultra-light flexible material", connecting a non-rotating body airbag 18 with a covering structure to the rear end of the airfoil-shaped airbag 1 as a horizontal stabilizer, and then connecting the trailing edge 2 to the rear end of the non-rotating body airbag 18.

[0024] According to an embodiment provided by the present invention, as Figure 1As shown, the bottom of the airfoil-shaped airbag 1 is fixedly attached to the vertical fin 4. The flexible material of the vertical fin 4 is tensioned by the horizontal rod 3 and the vertical rod 5 to form a vertical stabilizer. According to another embodiment of the present invention, as Figure 5 shown, a support boundary is formed by the lower surface of the airfoil-shaped airbag 1 and the suspension line 6, and the flexible material is tensioned to form a plurality of vertical fins 4. The platform system increases the side wind resistance through the vertical fins 4, generates a restoring moment, suppresses the left-right swing of the airbag in the side wind, ensures the yaw stability of the system, realizes the adjustment of the platform system orientation according to the oncoming flow direction, ensures that the payload compartment 7 is always facing the wind, and reduces the wind resistance.

[0025] According to the present invention, the nacelle 7 is fixedly installed at the bottom of the airfoil-shaped airbag 1. The stability of the platform system can reduce the jitter of the carried equipment and improve the data quality.

[0026] The above is only a preferred specific embodiment of the present invention, but the protection scope of the present invention is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention should be covered by the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be subject to the protection scope of the claimed rights.

Claims

1. A tethered balloon kite with an airfoil structure, characterized in that: The tethered balloon with an airfoil structure comprises an airfoil airbag, a load cabin, a tail suffix, a vertical tail, a horizontal rod, a vertical rod, a lifting line and a release line. The airfoil airbag has an airfoil structural feature; A tail suffix is ​​installed at the rear end of the wing-shaped airbag to serve as a horizontal stabilizer; A vertical tail is installed at the bottom of the wing-shaped airbag, which serves as a vertical stabilizer; A load compartment is installed at the bottom of the wing-shaped airbag; The wing-shaped airbag is connected with a release line through a lifting line.

2. A tethered balloon kite with an airfoil structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The airfoil airbag is covered with a high-strength and ultra-light mask, and the cross-sectional shape of the interior of the balloon is maintained by an airfoil rib plate structure.

3. The tethered balloon kite with an airfoil structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tail suffix plays the role of a horizontal aerodynamic stabilizer and can be realized in a variety of shapes and sizes, not limited to conventional shapes such as rectangle, trapezoid, triangle, etc. The length is 0 to 10 times the airbag length and the width is 0 to 3 times the airbag width.

4. The tethered balloon kite with an airfoil structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The vertical tail plays the role of a vertical aerodynamic stabilizer and can be realized in a variety of shapes and sizes, not limited to conventional shapes such as rectangle, trapezoid, triangle, etc. The length is 0 to 10 times the length of the airbag, and the width is 0 to 3 times the width of the airbag.

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