5 ms·
This will be entertaining, kind of steam punk like. I expect that they are really designing for hydrogen lift, the economics become a lot better and pretty muc
by ChuckMcM 3y ago
This will be entertaining, kind of steam punk like.
I expect that they are really designing for hydrogen lift, the economics become a lot better and pretty much everyone understands what killed the Hindenberg wasn't the hydrogen rather it was the outer skin catching fire. "Teldar"[1] (I think that is a wonderfully stupid name) is much less flammable. If you ask "Why hydrogen?" The reasoning goes like this; The value of an airship is determined by its range and its cargo capacity raising either increases the airships suitability for various tasks. Hydrogen provides 8% greater lift per cubic liter over helium and costs 1/10th what helium does to source and supply. So economically it just makes more sense but we haven't had hydrogen airships because of the public perception of their danger (and thus the lack of investment). Anyway, there are some great applications for dirigibles and "disaster relief" and "heavy lift" are but two. Something about being able to just sit there for hours over a point that is unreachable by land is pretty appealing.
[1] https://www.dupont.com/content/dam/dupont/amer/us/en/tedlar-pvf-films/public/documents/Tedlar-Properties-Overview.pdf https://www.dupont.com/content/dam/dupont/amer/us/en/tedlar-...
- coffeebeqn 3y agoI’m first reminded of final fantasy games. They (at least used to) always have a guy called Cid who would give you a airship to hop around the map quickly
- kridsdale3 3y agoAFAIK (have not played 16) there is still a Cid in each one.
- woleium 3y agoI suspect they will be using the learnings of project loon to use air currents and ai to provide heavy lift from anywhere to anywhere. A competitor to the Mississippi River system!
- kridsdale3 3y agoDoes Sergey automatically have access to the IP produced by one of his companies, to give to another?
- mpercy 3y agoHe has the advantage of knowing what is there and they can create an arrangement to license or sell the IP to another entity… if it’s just gathering dust, why not?
- worik 3y agoYes > "Why hydrogen?" The reasoning goes like this; The value of an airship is determined by its range and its cargo capacity raising either increases the airships suitability for various tasks. Hydrogen provides 8% greater lift per cubic liter over helium and costs 1/10th what helium does You are making an error Applying purely rational considerations to what will be an emotional decision Weep...
- njarboe 3y agoIf you are just moving cargo and not passengers, hopefully our world is not so broken that emotional decisions will be of first importance.
- kalupa 3y agoif that were true, then we'd all have switched to nuclear. Of course cost is a consideration, but Germany is a great example of irrationally changing course on power generation
- lamontcg 3y ago> and costs 1/10th what helium does to source and supply. I can't imagine what this this would do to helium prices if we had widespread helium airships. I've got a full set of doubles with 18/45 (45% helium in them) out in my garage right now that could become my retirement savings.
- amenghra 3y agoDoesn’t helium leak out of all containers? Ie there might not be much left if your retirement is a long way away.
- lamontcg 3y agoreddit suggests not, unless the valve is compromised: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/comments/3eqnqo/will_helium_escape_from_a_tank/ https://old.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/comments/3eqnqo/will_h...
- vGPU 3y agoWhat is a “double”?
- lamontcg 3y agosorry, double scuba tanks, this kind of thing: https://www.johnchatterton.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/cropped-tank-lineup.jpg https://www.johnchatterton.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/cr...
- r3trohack3r 3y agoI think that's the advantage of hydrogen. I'm not sure it would meaningfully impact hydrogen prices if we had widespread hydrogen ships. For example, you can generate fairly pure hydrogen on-demand by passing electricity through water. Hydrogen is abundant and can be generated on-demand with low-tech tools from any water source.
- nradov 3y agoIt won't impact helium prices. Almost no helium is used for airships today. Most goes for industrial and cooling systems. As a fellow diver, open circuit helium mix diving is probably not going to be sustainable. We'll probably all have to switch to rebreathers soon.
- smolder 3y agoIt seems like a nice bonus that hydrogen can also be used as fuel. All the hydrogen used for buoyancy control somewhat obviates the need to haul another liquid fuel or heavy batteries.
- dr_dshiv 3y agoYou can also conveniently “mine” hydrogen in the sky.
- angiosperm 3y agoit was the outer skin catching fire This claim is always trotted out, but is false. The kerosene fuel produced the visible flames, while the hydrogen burned mostly invisibly. The skin mostly survived. Another common and false claim was that a bomb started it. No, it was the leaking hydrogen that ignited. This doesn't mean a modern, unmanned airship shouldn't use hydrogen for lift. Adequate ventilation prevents ignition of leaks, and modern sensors can detect leaks. Harvesting humidity to replenish losses, using solar panels all over the top of it, is a reasonable design choice.
- mkl 3y ago>> it was the outer skin catching fire > This claim is always trotted out, but is false. [...] The skin mostly survived. Really? You can see the skin burning away in the photos and film: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburg_disaster
- angiosperm 3y agoYes, but it ignited last, not first.