Sizing for battery powered, non-rigid, finless airship for low altitude application

A smaller airship with sub-100 kg payload capacity offers practical advantages, such as ease of operation, versatility, and reduced helium consumption. Payload weight significantly influences hull sizing and correlates with airship flight subsystems like power and propulsion. This paper presents a m...

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Main Authors: Mohd Harithuddin, Ahmad Salahuddin, Sedan, Mohd Fazri, Gires, Ezanee
Format: Article
Published: Aeronautical and Astronautical Society of the Republic of China, Taiwan 2024
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/110586/
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author Mohd Harithuddin, Ahmad Salahuddin
Sedan, Mohd Fazri
Gires, Ezanee
author_facet Mohd Harithuddin, Ahmad Salahuddin
Sedan, Mohd Fazri
Gires, Ezanee
author_sort Mohd Harithuddin, Ahmad Salahuddin
building UPM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description A smaller airship with sub-100 kg payload capacity offers practical advantages, such as ease of operation, versatility, and reduced helium consumption. Payload weight significantly influences hull sizing and correlates with airship flight subsystems like power and propulsion. This paper presents a method for determining the dimensions of a basic lighter-than-air vehicle, consisting mainly of a non-rigid envelope hull, tiltable electric rotors, and a gondola housing the flight subsystems. The airship is designed to emulate a low-altitude multirotor drone but with enhanced buoyancy-based lifting capacity and flight endurance. Flight endurance, speed, and hull shape (fineness ratio) are held constant, using a prebuilt airship as the baseline design for performance measurement. Surveys of electronic components aid in estimating airship subsystem weights. The sizing method indicates that a four-rotor, finless, non-rigid airship with a 100 kg payload and over 25.5 kg battery capacity, capable of 2 hours of flight, requires 220 m³ of helium. With a fineness ratio of 2.03, the airship hull spans under 15 m. This sizing tool and analysis facilitate scalable design, aiding airship builders in transitioning from small experimental models to practical low-altitude applications.
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institution Universiti Putra Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-15T14:06:36Z
publishDate 2024
publisher Aeronautical and Astronautical Society of the Republic of China, Taiwan
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spelling upm-1105862024-05-27T01:55:37Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/110586/ Sizing for battery powered, non-rigid, finless airship for low altitude application Mohd Harithuddin, Ahmad Salahuddin Sedan, Mohd Fazri Gires, Ezanee A smaller airship with sub-100 kg payload capacity offers practical advantages, such as ease of operation, versatility, and reduced helium consumption. Payload weight significantly influences hull sizing and correlates with airship flight subsystems like power and propulsion. This paper presents a method for determining the dimensions of a basic lighter-than-air vehicle, consisting mainly of a non-rigid envelope hull, tiltable electric rotors, and a gondola housing the flight subsystems. The airship is designed to emulate a low-altitude multirotor drone but with enhanced buoyancy-based lifting capacity and flight endurance. Flight endurance, speed, and hull shape (fineness ratio) are held constant, using a prebuilt airship as the baseline design for performance measurement. Surveys of electronic components aid in estimating airship subsystem weights. The sizing method indicates that a four-rotor, finless, non-rigid airship with a 100 kg payload and over 25.5 kg battery capacity, capable of 2 hours of flight, requires 220 m³ of helium. With a fineness ratio of 2.03, the airship hull spans under 15 m. This sizing tool and analysis facilitate scalable design, aiding airship builders in transitioning from small experimental models to practical low-altitude applications. Aeronautical and Astronautical Society of the Republic of China, Taiwan 2024 Article PeerReviewed Mohd Harithuddin, Ahmad Salahuddin and Sedan, Mohd Fazri and Gires, Ezanee (2024) Sizing for battery powered, non-rigid, finless airship for low altitude application. Journal of Aeronautics, Astronautics and Aviation, 56 (1s). pp. 447-459. ISSN 1990-7710 https://www.airitilibrary.com/Article/Detail/P20140627004-N202403020027-00033 10.6125/JoAAA.202403_56(1S).32
spellingShingle Mohd Harithuddin, Ahmad Salahuddin
Sedan, Mohd Fazri
Gires, Ezanee
Sizing for battery powered, non-rigid, finless airship for low altitude application
title Sizing for battery powered, non-rigid, finless airship for low altitude application
title_full Sizing for battery powered, non-rigid, finless airship for low altitude application
title_fullStr Sizing for battery powered, non-rigid, finless airship for low altitude application
title_full_unstemmed Sizing for battery powered, non-rigid, finless airship for low altitude application
title_short Sizing for battery powered, non-rigid, finless airship for low altitude application
title_sort sizing for battery powered, non-rigid, finless airship for low altitude application
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/110586/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/110586/
http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/110586/