Improved Thermal and Vertical Trajectory Model for Performance Prediction of Stratospheric Balloons

Yang, X. H.; Zhang, Weihua; Hou, Zhanqiang

doi:10.1061/(asce)as.1943-5525.0000404

Cited by 14 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…Based on the thermal and dynamic models established in this paper, a computer program was developed. The high-altitude experimental data obtained by Yang et al [33] were used to verify the validity and accuracy of the dynamic model developed in this study. The same balloon parameters, launch times, and launch sites were used in our comparative analysis.…”

Section: Verification Of the Dynamic Modelmentioning

confidence: 89%

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Effect of Lifting Gas Diffusion on the Station-Keeping Performance of a Near-Space Aerostat

Ling

Lei

et al. 2022

Aerospace

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During the long-endurance flight of a near-space aerostat, the characteristics of lifting gas diffusion have a great influence on the flight altitude adjustment and station-keeping performance. Thus, in this study, a lifting gas diffusion model and a dynamic model that consider thermal effects, which had not been studied in similar models before, were developed. The dynamic model and thermal model were validated by historic flight data, and the calculated lifting gas diffusion results were compared with the experimental data of other researchers. The variations in the flight endurance, flight altitude, lifting gas diffusion rate, and diffusion coefficient of a near-space aerostat were analyzed. The effects of the ratio of porosity to tortuosity and envelope radiation properties on the mass of the lifting gas and flight altitude were considered in detail. To analyze the effect mechanism of the ratio of porosity to tortuosity and the envelope radiation properties, the envelope and gas temperature, as well as the gas pressure, were studied. The results show that the lifting gas diffusion rate and diffusion coefficient are very sensitive to the change in the ratio of porosity to tortuosity and envelope temperature. The results obtained from the analysis of the lifting gas diffusion can lay a solid foundation for improving the flight performance of near-space aerostats and for providing improved design considerations for aerostats.

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Section: Verification Of the Dynamic Modelmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…where m add is the air mass displaced by the motion of the balloon, named the virtual mass, which can be calculated using the virtual mass coefficient c add . The virtual mass coefficient c add can range from 0.25 to 0.5 and is specified as 0.5 here [33]. A precise calculation of the virtual mass can be obtained from references [34,35].…”

Section: Dynamic Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Lifting Gas Diffusion on the Station-Keeping Performance of a Near-Space Aerostat

Ling

Lei

et al. 2022

Aerospace

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“…The external solar radiation includes direct solar, diffuse solar, and albedo radiation. The external infrared radiation consists of atmosphere and ground infrared radiation [26]. A certain proportion of the solar irradiance can be converted to electrical power through the solar array, but the majority of the solar energy is transformed to heat as a thermal load on the airship.…”

Section: Thermal Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multidisciplinary Optimization of Thermal Insulation Layer for Stratospheric Airship with a Solar Array

Yang

et al. 2022

Aerospace

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Stratospheric airships with a solar array have demonstrated overwhelming superiority in many aspects, such as earth observation, meteorological survey, and communication relay. The solar array supplies sufficient power for the airship to be in flight for months, but excessive heat is also transferred to the airship, causing high overpressure of inner gas. However, the optimal arrangement of the insulation layer on the airship has not been investigated. The theoretical method, including the geometry, thermal, and energy models, is developed and validated. The distribution of the temperatures and power of the solar cells, with different installation angles on the curved surface, is investigated. The thickness of insulation layer has a significant effect on the solar output power and internal pressure of the airship. An optimized configuration of the insulation structure is proposed, in order to improve the total output energy of solar array. The optimized configuration of insulations helps to reduce the structural mass by 24.9% and increase the payload mass by 9%. Moreover, the optimized arrangement improves the output energy of solar array in a year, and the maximum improvement is 8.2% on the winter solstice. The work displays the optimization of the thermal insulation layer for the stratospheric airship with a solar array, in order to improve the everyday energy acquirement during flight in a year.

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“…Dai et al [30] analysed the effect of thermal model on performance of SP balloons. Yang et al [31] presented an improved thermal and vertical trajectory model of stratospheric SP balloons. Lee et al [32] developed a numerical prediction for the trajectories of scientific balloons while considering various uncertainties.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Balloon Design for Mars, Venus, and Titan Atmospheres

Garg

Kühn

2020

Applied Sciences

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This paper studies the specifications of balloons for the exploration of bodies with different atmospheric conditions. Three types of balloons, i.e., zero-pressure, super-pressure, and over-pressurized, with four different shapes, i.e., sphere, oblate, prolate, and airship, were analysed. First, the development of a simulation tool is described, which was used for analysing the behaviour of balloons for different exploration missions. Next, the developed software was verified by comparing its output with recorded data from a set of flights at the Esrange Space Center. Based on the simulation results, recommendations are given for different balloon types and shapes for operation on Mars, Venus, and Titan.

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Improved Thermal and Vertical Trajectory Model for Performance Prediction of Stratospheric Balloons

Cited by 14 publications

References 14 publications

Effect of Lifting Gas Diffusion on the Station-Keeping Performance of a Near-Space Aerostat

Effect of Lifting Gas Diffusion on the Station-Keeping Performance of a Near-Space Aerostat

Multidisciplinary Optimization of Thermal Insulation Layer for Stratospheric Airship with a Solar Array

Balloon Design for Mars, Venus, and Titan Atmospheres

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