Subject:
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Re: Making Lego airborne
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.robotics
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Date:
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Sat, 25 Mar 2000 09:04:58 GMT
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Highlighted:
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(details)
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Viewed:
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2007 times
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Todd Lehman <lehman@javanet.com> writes:
> In lugnet.robotics, Ram Meenakshisundaram writes:
> >
> > Here comes a stupid question: What is a dirigible???
>
> A balloon-based airship having propulsion and steering systems.
>
> A LEGO example is set #5956 Air Zeppelin:
>
> http://www.lugnet.com/pause/search/?query=5956-1
>
> Non-LEGO examples are the Hindenburg, the Good Year Blimp,
> and the airship that Drs. Henry & Indiana Jones escaped
> from via biplane in the third movie.
It seems we might get a few more examples in the near future. In
Germany there are several groups constructing new airships, using
better material avaliable today. The most impressive one is the
CargoLifter, which is intended to carry heavy loads over long
distances into the middle of nowhere, e.g. parts for a power
station into the jungle.
From http://www.cargolifter.com/airship_e/index.htm :
The first generation of CargoLifters, the CL160s, are
intended to carry payloads of up to 160 tonnes - that is as
much as about 27 full-grown African elephants - at a speed
of 80 to 100 km/h and a maximum height of 2,000 meters
non-stop over several thousand kilometers.
So how must CargoLifter be constructed and what will it look
like?
If you take as a model the old airships as constructed at
the beginning of this century, then you will see that these
ships, which were about 250 meters long, could only carry a
maximum of about 60 tonnes of freight. The reason for this
is to be found in their high structural weight (aluminum -
structure in the envelope, helium - gas-bags etc). About
three of these huge ships would be needed to carry a load of
160 tonnes. The most compact alternative for lifting a load
using helium is a balloon. Steering a balloon from one
location to another, however, takes a great deal of trouble;
moreover, because of the balloon's poor CW, it needs a great
deal of energy. What is needed therefore is a structurally
light and aerodynamic airship. All these characteristics are
combined in a semi-rigid airship, also called a blimp.
Semi-rigid means that it has a rigid keel. Might make for an
interesting model, but getting it into the air would probably be a
major effort (I guess it would have to be several meters large).
Jürgen
--
Jürgen Stuber <juergen@mpi-sb.mpg.de>
http://www.mpi-sb.mpg.de/~juergen/
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: Making Lego airborne
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| (...) A balloon-based airship having propulsion and steering systems. A LEGO example is set #5956 Air Zeppelin: (URL) examples are the Hindenburg, the Good Year Blimp, and the airship that Drs. Henry & Indiana Jones escaped from via biplane in the (...) (24 years ago, 24-Mar-00, to lugnet.robotics)
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