Envelope radiation characteristics of stratospheric airship

Abstract

Abstract To investigate the envelope radiation characteristic of stratospheric airship, three kinds of airship models with different dimensions (fineness ratio of 3,4,5) are selected. After establishing the thermal equilibrium equations of the selected models, the influence of the envelope radiation characteristic on the envelope and airship gas is first addressed to determine the optimal fineness ratio by considering the flight dynamics characteristics. Furthermore, the effects of envelope emissivity, envelope absorptivity, solar cells radiation characteristics, and typical envelope materials on the envelope radiation characteristics of airship are discussed in depth. The results show that: (1) With the assumption of same absorptivity and emissivity, the larger the fineness ratio of the airship, the smaller the diurnal temperature difference of the main helium gasbag, and the better the thermal characteristics of airship as well. When the envelope radiation characteristics vary, the temperature difference of main helium gasbag with a fineness ratio of 4 in one day is always less than 1 K, compared with the fineness ratio of 5. However, the temperature difference of main helium gasbag with a fineness ratio of 3 exceeds that with the fineness ratio of 5, and reaches its maximum of 6 K. Therefore, the fineness ratio of 4 is regarded as optimal by considering the floating constraints of low drag and high buoyancy. (2) In the case of higher long-wave emissivity and lower short-wave absorptivity of the envelope material and solar cells, the diurnal helium temperature difference is the smallest, and the thermal performance of the aerostat is better. (3) Among the five typical envelope materials, i.e., white Tedlar film, white PU film, silver-plated Teflon film, aluminized PET film, and white PVF film, the aluminized PET film is more conducive to controlling the helium temperature difference and reducing the volume change of gasbags. The aforementioned results can provide a theoretical basis for improving the thermal performance of stratospheric airships.