Torus-Shaped High Altitude Platform Duct Drag Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current high altitude platforms within the Earth's atmosphere face challenges in achieving sustained station-keeping due to wind-induced drag, leading to high costs and logistical obstacles, and existing solutions like giant airships are not practical for deployment.
Innovation Solution
A lighter-than-air high altitude platform with an aerodynamically streamlined torus-shaped body, equipped with a duct and propellers, that uses hydrogen or helium for lift and solar energy for propulsion, allowing it to maintain position at high altitudes for extended periods with reduced drag and increased communication capabilities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Force
If giant semi-rigid airships are used to overcome wind-induced drag, then enough power generation capacity is provided, but the cost increases to be as expensive as large manned airplanes and logistics present serious obstacles
Solution Approach 1:
The airship is divided into multiple modular sections that can be independently manufactured, assembled, and maintained. This segmentation allows for easier logistics and deployment while maintaining the overall structural integrity and power generation capacity of the giant airship system.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention employs a nested structure where smaller aerodynamic components and propulsion systems are integrated within the larger airship body. This nesting approach reduces overall complexity by consolidating multiple functions into a unified structure that can be more easily managed and deployed.
2Device complexity
If modest-sized craft are used, then logistics are simplified, but there is not enough energy to overcome wind-induced drag
Solution Approach 1:
The airship employs a streamlined toroidal (doughnut-shaped) geometry that minimizes aerodynamic drag through its curved surfaces. This aerodynamic shaping allows modest-sized craft to overcome wind-induced drag more efficiently by reducing the drag coefficient, thereby maintaining energy efficiency while keeping the structure manageable in size.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention optimizes key parameters such as the aspect ratio, curvature radius, and surface area-to-volume ratio of the airship body to achieve the best balance between aerodynamic efficiency and structural feasibility. By carefully tuning these geometric parameters, the craft can maintain sufficient energy to overcome drag while keeping the size manageable for simplified logistics.
3Loss of energy
If a duct extends through the body to reduce drag, then aerodynamic efficiency is improved, but the structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The duct extending through the airship body serves multiple functions: it reduces aerodynamic drag by streamlining airflow, provides structural reinforcement, and can accommodate propulsion systems or payload equipment. This multi-functionality approach reduces overall structural complexity by combining several needs into a single integrated component rather than adding separate elements.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The platform achieves efficient energy use, reduced drag, and enhanced communication capabilities, enabling it to stay aloft for days to months at altitudes of 50,000-80,000 feet, providing stronger GPS signals and communication coverage over hundreds of miles.
Implementation Method 1
The body may be inflated with a lighter-than-air gas, such as hydrogen or helium, and in an amount sufficient to provide lift such that the HAP can reach and maintain very high altitudes
Implementation Method 2
The HAP includes an aerodynamically streamlined body that reduces drag on the HAP. The body may have the topology of a torus
Implementation Method 3
A duct may extend through the body of the HAP and provide for further reduced drag on the HAP. The duct may have a first, frontward opening that faces and is aligned approximately parallel to the direction of the freestream flow in the atmosphere. Such alignment may impact, for example reduce, the drag on the HAP by diverting a portion of the freestream flow into and through the duct
Implementation Method 4
The HAP may also include a control system to provide stable, predictable motion of the craft, a solar energy collection system to provide energy for propulsion, control, and/or payload systems
Data Source
AI summary
An energy efficient and lighter-than-air high altitude platform (HAP) is disclosed that allows for sustained station keeping at high altitudes of about 50,000-80,000 feet for prolonged periods of time. The HAP includes an aerodynamically streamlined body that may have the topology of a torus. The body may be inflated with a lighter-than-air gas in an amount sufficient to provide lift to the high altitudes. The HAP has a duct extending through the pressurized body that diverts flow through the duct and reduces aerodynamic drag. The HAP may include one or more propellers situated in the duct to provide propulsion and maintain a given location of the HAP relative to ground. There may also be a control system, a solar energy collection system, an energy storage system, and/or any of a variety of payloads to accomplish various tasks, such as communication and/or situational awareness applications.