Distributed helium heating in the working space of an agricultural unmanned airship

   In modern agricultural production, unmanned aerial vehicles are capable of solving many tasks. It is expedient to use airships to perform long technological operations above the ground. To justify the need for the dispersed heating of helium in the working chamber of the airship, the authors considered the influence of the ratio of the volumes occupied by heated and cold helium in the working chamber of the airship, as well as the influence of the helium temperature on the lifting force. Calculations have shown that the dispersed heating of helium causes an accelerated change in its density, provides a reduction in the energy consumption for heating, and reduces the requirements for the thermal strength of the envelope. It is shown that distributed heating of helium in the whole working chamber of the airship has a number of advantages over local heating. In the proposed design of the unmanned airship, the technical implementation of the distributed heating of helium is achieved by means of an electrical heating device, the conductive elements of which are placed throughout the working chamber on supports made of light dielectric material. To increase the heating efficiency, the inner surface of the envelope is covered with a reflector made of thin basalt wool foil. The vertical maneuvering of the airship is automatically maintained by the control unit by connecting an electric heating device depending on the helium temperature and the ambient temperature.

1. Kurchenko N.Yu., Daus Yu.V., Truflyak E.V., Ilchenko Ya.A. Parameters of the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the processing of crop protection products. Proceedings of Lower Volga Agro-University Complex: Science and Higher Education. 2023;1:527‑536. EDN: OIBLWB (In Rus.)

2. Galushina P.S., Kravchuk A.A. The use of aviation in agriculture of the Russian Federation. Agrarnoe Obrazovanie i Nauka. 2023;2:8. EDN: VZXBAU (In Rus.)

3. Andreev S.A., Belov D.V. Vertical maneuvering a microdirible of agricultural purpose. Collection of papers of the XVII International Scientific and Practical Conference ‘’European Scientific Conference’’, November 07, 2019. Penza, Science and Education. 2019. Р. 72‑75. EDN: IKGDBK (In Rus.)

4. Andreev S.A., Belov D.V. Estimation of energy consumption for heating helium during vertical maneuvering of airships for agricultural purposes. Doklady TSKhA. 2020;292(1):102‑107. EDN: OCPRQL (In Rus.)

5. Andreev S.A., Belov D.V. Aerostat: Patent 197257 Russian Federation, IPC B64B1. No. 2020106046, 2020. EDN: FOXVEE (In Rus.)