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Smallest possible size for a manned airship
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As far as I know airships, specifically rigid-airships, do not have an upper size limit other than what is required by practicality and how willing you are to build gigantic airship sheds. But one question that has been burning inside me recently is how small can an airship, specifically a non rigid airship or blimp, feasibly be and still fly. I know there is a minimum amount of lifting gas needed but I have never received a straight answer. In the real world the smallest airship that I know of is Gallagher's airship the White Dwarf. It is about 48 feet long and 17 feet wide with a 17 foot long gondola and 6200 cubic feet of lifting gas capable of lifting almost 400 pounds. The airship is pedal powered so It can't go fast but in an article I read on google books it managed to reach 1200 feet in the air. Granted the blimp had been caught by the wind which made it rise to that Height but the blimp managed to maintain the height for a few minutes before descending. With the White Dwarf as a reference what do you think the smallest possible airship (envelope) size is for personal travel? Assume that it is powered by a lightweight magnesium aluminum motor like that of a motorcycle (light enough to be carried by the average guy), has a 5-7 foot long gondola made from a magnesium aluminum alloy, has a traditional cigar; football; or teardrop shaped envelope, and has enough lifting gas to lift someone off the ground and achieve a maximum Height of 300 to 650 feet using either hydrogen, helium, or hot air. If my question is too vague please let me know how I can improve it in the comments.
airships
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Tyler Phelps
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up vote
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down vote
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As far as I know airships, specifically rigid-airships, do not have an upper size limit other than what is required by practicality and how willing you are to build gigantic airship sheds. But one question that has been burning inside me recently is how small can an airship, specifically a non rigid airship or blimp, feasibly be and still fly. I know there is a minimum amount of lifting gas needed but I have never received a straight answer. In the real world the smallest airship that I know of is Gallagher's airship the White Dwarf. It is about 48 feet long and 17 feet wide with a 17 foot long gondola and 6200 cubic feet of lifting gas capable of lifting almost 400 pounds. The airship is pedal powered so It can't go fast but in an article I read on google books it managed to reach 1200 feet in the air. Granted the blimp had been caught by the wind which made it rise to that Height but the blimp managed to maintain the height for a few minutes before descending. With the White Dwarf as a reference what do you think the smallest possible airship (envelope) size is for personal travel? Assume that it is powered by a lightweight magnesium aluminum motor like that of a motorcycle (light enough to be carried by the average guy), has a 5-7 foot long gondola made from a magnesium aluminum alloy, has a traditional cigar; football; or teardrop shaped envelope, and has enough lifting gas to lift someone off the ground and achieve a maximum Height of 300 to 650 feet using either hydrogen, helium, or hot air. If my question is too vague please let me know how I can improve it in the comments.
airships
asked 1 hour ago
Tyler Phelps
393
New contributor
Tyler Phelps is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
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up vote
3
down vote
favorite
up vote
3
down vote
favorite
As far as I know airships, specifically rigid-airships, do not have an upper size limit other than what is required by practicality and how willing you are to build gigantic airship sheds. But one question that has been burning inside me recently is how small can an airship, specifically a non rigid airship or blimp, feasibly be and still fly. I know there is a minimum amount of lifting gas needed but I have never received a straight answer. In the real world the smallest airship that I know of is Gallagher's airship the White Dwarf. It is about 48 feet long and 17 feet wide with a 17 foot long gondola and 6200 cubic feet of lifting gas capable of lifting almost 400 pounds. The airship is pedal powered so It can't go fast but in an article I read on google books it managed to reach 1200 feet in the air. Granted the blimp had been caught by the wind which made it rise to that Height but the blimp managed to maintain the height for a few minutes before descending. With the White Dwarf as a reference what do you think the smallest possible airship (envelope) size is for personal travel? Assume that it is powered by a lightweight magnesium aluminum motor like that of a motorcycle (light enough to be carried by the average guy), has a 5-7 foot long gondola made from a magnesium aluminum alloy, has a traditional cigar; football; or teardrop shaped envelope, and has enough lifting gas to lift someone off the ground and achieve a maximum Height of 300 to 650 feet using either hydrogen, helium, or hot air. If my question is too vague please let me know how I can improve it in the comments.
airships
asked 1 hour ago
Tyler Phelps
393
New contributor
Tyler Phelps is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
As far as I know airships, specifically rigid-airships, do not have an upper size limit other than what is required by practicality and how willing you are to build gigantic airship sheds. But one question that has been burning inside me recently is how small can an airship, specifically a non rigid airship or blimp, feasibly be and still fly. I know there is a minimum amount of lifting gas needed but I have never received a straight answer. In the real world the smallest airship that I know of is Gallagher's airship the White Dwarf. It is about 48 feet long and 17 feet wide with a 17 foot long gondola and 6200 cubic feet of lifting gas capable of lifting almost 400 pounds. The airship is pedal powered so It can't go fast but in an article I read on google books it managed to reach 1200 feet in the air. Granted the blimp had been caught by the wind which made it rise to that Height but the blimp managed to maintain the height for a few minutes before descending. With the White Dwarf as a reference what do you think the smallest possible airship (envelope) size is for personal travel? Assume that it is powered by a lightweight magnesium aluminum motor like that of a motorcycle (light enough to be carried by the average guy), has a 5-7 foot long gondola made from a magnesium aluminum alloy, has a traditional cigar; football; or teardrop shaped envelope, and has enough lifting gas to lift someone off the ground and achieve a maximum Height of 300 to 650 feet using either hydrogen, helium, or hot air. If my question is too vague please let me know how I can improve it in the comments.
airships
airships
asked 1 hour ago
Tyler Phelps
393
New contributor
Tyler Phelps is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 1 hour ago
Tyler Phelps
393
New contributor
Tyler Phelps is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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edited 1 hour ago
asked 1 hour ago
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Tyler Phelps is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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asked 1 hour ago
Tyler Phelps
393
asked 1 hour ago
Tyler Phelps
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393
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Tyler Phelps is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Tyler Phelps is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Tyler Phelps is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
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1 Answer
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Let's assume that you're using helium as your lifting gas.
If that's the case, you get about a gram of lifting capacity per litre of helium. That means that you want 1000L of gas for every Kg you want to lift. That neatly works out to 1m3 of helium per Kg you want to lift.
Let's further assume that you want a craft that can lift an average human of around 80Kg, and we allow for 40Kg of gas bag and framing. For that, you'll likely only get a small frame to sit in not terribly dissimilar to that of a glider, and that's only if your gas balloon is very lightweight (therefore not combat ready). You may also want a simple pedal driven propellor of sorts, but let's continue to assume you can fit all that in your 40Kg additional weight.
That means that your airship has to have a gas bladder on it of approx. 120M3, or roughly 3M x 4M x 10M in size.
You could put your airframe for holding you under that, and you'd be good to go.
answered 1 hour ago
Tim B II
22.2k64996
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1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
5
down vote
Let's assume that you're using helium as your lifting gas.
If that's the case, you get about a gram of lifting capacity per litre of helium. That means that you want 1000L of gas for every Kg you want to lift. That neatly works out to 1m3 of helium per Kg you want to lift.
Let's further assume that you want a craft that can lift an average human of around 80Kg, and we allow for 40Kg of gas bag and framing. For that, you'll likely only get a small frame to sit in not terribly dissimilar to that of a glider, and that's only if your gas balloon is very lightweight (therefore not combat ready). You may also want a simple pedal driven propellor of sorts, but let's continue to assume you can fit all that in your 40Kg additional weight.
That means that your airship has to have a gas bladder on it of approx. 120M3, or roughly 3M x 4M x 10M in size.
You could put your airframe for holding you under that, and you'd be good to go.
answered 1 hour ago
Tim B II
22.2k64996
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
Let's assume that you're using helium as your lifting gas.
If that's the case, you get about a gram of lifting capacity per litre of helium. That means that you want 1000L of gas for every Kg you want to lift. That neatly works out to 1m3 of helium per Kg you want to lift.
Let's further assume that you want a craft that can lift an average human of around 80Kg, and we allow for 40Kg of gas bag and framing. For that, you'll likely only get a small frame to sit in not terribly dissimilar to that of a glider, and that's only if your gas balloon is very lightweight (therefore not combat ready). You may also want a simple pedal driven propellor of sorts, but let's continue to assume you can fit all that in your 40Kg additional weight.
That means that your airship has to have a gas bladder on it of approx. 120M3, or roughly 3M x 4M x 10M in size.
You could put your airframe for holding you under that, and you'd be good to go.
answered 1 hour ago
Tim B II
22.2k64996
add a comment |Â
up vote
5
down vote
up vote
5
down vote
Let's assume that you're using helium as your lifting gas.
If that's the case, you get about a gram of lifting capacity per litre of helium. That means that you want 1000L of gas for every Kg you want to lift. That neatly works out to 1m3 of helium per Kg you want to lift.
Let's further assume that you want a craft that can lift an average human of around 80Kg, and we allow for 40Kg of gas bag and framing. For that, you'll likely only get a small frame to sit in not terribly dissimilar to that of a glider, and that's only if your gas balloon is very lightweight (therefore not combat ready). You may also want a simple pedal driven propellor of sorts, but let's continue to assume you can fit all that in your 40Kg additional weight.
That means that your airship has to have a gas bladder on it of approx. 120M3, or roughly 3M x 4M x 10M in size.
You could put your airframe for holding you under that, and you'd be good to go.
answered 1 hour ago
Tim B II
22.2k64996
Let's assume that you're using helium as your lifting gas.
If that's the case, you get about a gram of lifting capacity per litre of helium. That means that you want 1000L of gas for every Kg you want to lift. That neatly works out to 1m3 of helium per Kg you want to lift.
Let's further assume that you want a craft that can lift an average human of around 80Kg, and we allow for 40Kg of gas bag and framing. For that, you'll likely only get a small frame to sit in not terribly dissimilar to that of a glider, and that's only if your gas balloon is very lightweight (therefore not combat ready). You may also want a simple pedal driven propellor of sorts, but let's continue to assume you can fit all that in your 40Kg additional weight.
That means that your airship has to have a gas bladder on it of approx. 120M3, or roughly 3M x 4M x 10M in size.
You could put your airframe for holding you under that, and you'd be good to go.
answered 1 hour ago
Tim B II
22.2k64996
answered 1 hour ago
Tim B II
22.2k64996
answered 1 hour ago
Tim B II
22.2k64996
answered 1 hour ago
Tim B II
22.2k64996
22.2k64996
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
Tyler Phelps is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Tyler Phelps is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Tyler Phelps is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Tyler Phelps is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
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