11–20 of 73 posts
I've always wanted one of these - they seem like an awesome way to explore the world. I once fantasized about getting a couple of them dropped in some remote location, spend a few days or weeks hiking out there, and then flying back. Wonder what a modern variant would look like?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Except with steel as the tensile material, you can probably use pressures up around 1000 psi, making the whole structure have an amazing strength to weight ratio. Congratulations, you have created a bomb.
You certainly need to think about that in the design. But by rolling a 'texture' into the sheets the structure is made from, you can make sure that any hole can't 'rip' bigger, and therefore fails slowly rather than rapidly. You also need pressure regulator valves in case of fire. And you might want to make the whole thing double or triple skinned so the highest pressures can be deeper inside where they are less like…
Unmanned aviation comes to mind, but the ratio between structural mass and battery+payload is already so low, even a zero-mass structure would not make a meaningful performance difference. It's all about the battery tech.
Scaling up foil boating perhaps? Carbon fiber construction would certainly appear like a good candidate for taking advantage of being pressurized, and I perhaps naively take it as a given that materials is the major limiting factor in scaling up.
Can we make an aircraft with a motor and inflatable wing, such that the motor works for propulsion and also inflating the wing, and the motor's waste heat is used for heating the air in the wing?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Except with steel as the tensile material, you can probably use pressures up around 1000 psi, making the whole structure have an amazing strength to weight ratio. Congratulations, you have created a bomb.
You certainly need to think about that in the design. But by rolling a 'texture' into the sheets the structure is made from, you can make sure that any hole can't 'rip' bigger, and therefore fails slowly rather than rapidly. You also need pressure regulator valves in case of fire. And you might want to make the whole thing double or triple skinned so the highest pressures can be deeper inside where they are less like…
Just for some reference, 1000psi is the kind of pressure you get ~700m depth (2300ft), double what a submarine would regularly withstand. Pressure in your average propane gas tank probably peaks around 200psi in high temperature. That steel isn't flimsy, it tends to get bulky and heavy even with creative ribbing and reinforcement.
It has to make a lot of sense practically and economically to consider such an option. So it ends up being used in places where weight or cost matter less.
Can we make an aircraft with a motor and inflatable wing, such that the motor works for propulsion and also inflating the wing, and the motor's waste heat is used for heating the air in the wing?
That's how this plane worked - the inflation pressure in flight was supplied by the motor. I don't think heating the air was desired, but some heat will inevitably end up in the air as it is compressed.
I think there are lots of possibilities for inflatable vehicles which cannot be deflated . For example, make a flimsy structure out of thin steel foil, then pressurize it to give it far more strength than it would otherwise have. Same as the strength of a coke can. Except with steel as the tensile material, you can probably use pressures up around 1000 psi, making the whole structure have an amazing strength to weigh…
> Except with steel as the tensile material, you can probably use pressures up around 1000 psi, making the whole structure have an amazing strength to weight ratio. Congratulations, you have created a bomb.
I wonder how much it could be impoved if this project was revisited today with modern materials and manufacturing techniques.
I've always wanted one of these - they seem like an awesome way to explore the world. I once fantasized about getting a couple of them dropped in some remote location, spend a few days or weeks hiking out there, and then flying back. Wonder what a modern variant would look like?
Something like a powered paraglider comes to mind. It has the additional benefit of being reusable.