Lift Gases Presented to: Joint AIAA / AUVSI Technical Session: - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Alternative Lift Gases

Presented to:

Joint AIAA / AUVSI

Technical Session:

“Emerging Trends in Tethered Systems”

Washington, D.C. August 12, 2013

Skynet over Frisco, TX

In the Beginning…

• Montgolfier Bro’s
• Hot Air Balloons
• 14 Dec. 1782
• Coated Tafetta
• ~500 lbs. EW
• 28,000 cubic feet
• and 1,800 buttons
• Tethered Flight!
• Unmanned
• Manned Oct 1783
• 70,000 Cubic feet

• Mssrs. Charles & Robert
• Flew December 1, 1783
• Hydrogen Gas Balloons
• “Better flying w/ chemistry”
• Veritable “Space Race”
• Government-Sponsored
• Viva la France
• Gas balloons dominate
• Chemical H2 generation
• H2SO4 + (Fe, Zn) >>>(H2)

Early LTA Flight

• No other manned flight until Wrights (1903)
• Balloon uses:
• Recce’
• Recreation
• Advertising
• Very Popular

Early LTA Flight

Early LTA Flight

Early LTA Flight

Early LTA Flight

May 6, 1937…

The VERY Beginning…

• “Big Bang” created elements via nucleosynthesis
• Hydrogen, Helium two most common elements
• Followed in order by Oxygen, Neon, Carbon, Silicon
• Factoid: Trace Helium is found trapped in some meteorites
• Sun burns Helium: He is much rarer here on earth
• Helium is found together with natural gas
• Product of decaying radioactive rock (nucleosynthesis)

accumulated over the course of gazillions of years

• U.S. “refines” He from Natural Gas by cooling it
• NG may contain as much as 1.5% He
• U.S. refines and controls some 75% of world’s supply

Scientific American

I’m your Density…

GAS M.W. Temp. (°C) Density (kg/m3) Lift (N/m3) in ISA Safety Cost Ease of provision Buoyancy control H2 2 15° 0.084 11.19 bad fair fair no He 4 15° 0.169 10.36 good very high very bad no CH4 16 15° 0.676 5.39 bad low fair no NH3 17 15° 0.718 4.97 fair low fair no hot air 29 (avg) 110° (avg) 0.921 (avg) 2.98 (avg) good very low good yes

steam

(H2O)

18 100° 0.587 6.26 good very low good yes

• Helium becoming prohibitively expensive
• Helium prices -will- continue to climb steadily
• Helium vital for many other applications:
• MRI machines currently use ~44% of Helium
• BTW: He for lift gas applications constitute <~6% total
• Leak detection requires the smaller He molecule
• Helium can never be generated “on-site”
• Helium requires high pressure containers
• Helium is practically “non-renewable”
• We owe it to future generations to save Helium

We Have Alternatives…Let’s use them

Let’s just say No to Helium…

U.S. Navy efforts to use H2:

H2 UAS New World Record: 48 Hours! H2 Fuel Vehicles at Joint Base Hickam, HI

H2 accepted in other countries

• Rest of the world has embraced Hydrogen
• They have never had access to vast Helium supplies
• Established effective & safe distribution, use
• Pipelines
• Operating Procedures
• Cultural Awareness
• H2 Routinely used as Lift Gas
• For Unmanned -and- Manned Flight
• But: Not for Military applications
• We can learn from their experience
• Especially for tethered applications
• NOAA and NWS already using H2

H2 Resources

• http://www.undeerc.org/NCHT
• http://www.hysafe.org

H2 Gas Generation

• Developed for a “tactical “ application
• Need to quickly generate useful volumes of H2
• “Solid State”
• Scale-able
• Portable

Hot Air / Steam

• FESTO / Germany
• Insulated Fabric / Envelope
• Propane Energy Source
• Proved Viable Alternative
• Potential for Hybrid Design

Nexutech “Aeronexus”

• Aerostat system to “Connect and Protect™ ”
• Cell Site
• Camera / Analytics
• Advertising
• Utilize best-of-breed tether system:
• Power-up-the Line
• Capillary gas replenishment explorations
• Hot air / hybrid
• Goal: 100% propane power for system

Closing…

• Tethered systems replace / augment UAS
• Especially while NAS issues are unresolved
• Opportunities exist to embrace innovation
• Be good stewards of natural resources
• Learn from the success of others

Thanks to:

• BOSH Technologies
• Blimpworks
• Anasphere
• NRL
• Contact: jaywillmott@nexutech.com