Analysis of long-endurance station-keeping flight scenarios for stratospheric airships in the presence of thermal effects |
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Authors: | Jie Wang Xiuyun Meng Cuichun Li Wenjie Qiu |
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Institution: | 1. Beijing Institute of Technology, 100081 Beijing, People’s Republic of China;2. Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100094 Beijing, People’s Republic of China;3. Beijing Aerospace Automatic Control Institute, 100039 Beijing, People’s Republic of China |
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Abstract: | The ability to achieve long-endurance station-keeping flights makes stratospheric airships desirable platforms for the provision of communication and surveillance services. To maintain long-endurance flights, it is necessary to consider the problem of energy consumption. In this paper, we discuss long-endurance flight scenarios of stratospheric airships in the presence of thermal effects. The balance between buoyancy and gravity is influenced by thermal effects during the diurnal cycle. We perform a theoretical analysis based on the helium’s mass, pressure differential, and altitude as the main factors. To verify the effectiveness of the control over the pressure differential and the altitude, three long-endurance flight scenarios are proposed and compared. Then, the corresponding optimization problems are constructed to determine the energy-minimum flight. Finally, further efforts are made to reduce energy consumption. The realization and limitations of two strategies for improvement are analyzed. A comparison with other scenarios shows the effectiveness of energy conservation. The study in this paper thus provides a reference for station-keeping applications of stratospheric airships. |
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Keywords: | Stratospheric airship Station-keeping Thermal effects Net heaviness Long-endurance flight |
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