6 ms·
> There are other challenges too (what do you do when you drop off your cargo and the airship wants to shoot up into the air? Vent gas? Rapidly compress your ga
by labcomputer 2y ago
> There are other challenges too (what do you do when you drop off your cargo and the airship wants to shoot up into the air? Vent gas? Rapidly compress your gas?)
Not to detract from your overall point, but you do the same thing you do when burning fuel while cruising: Add ballast.
Yes, but how do you add ballast to an airship while it is underway? Simple: condense water out of the exhaust like the zeppelins did.
- aaron695 2y ago[dead]
- zabzonk 2y ago> Simple: condense water out of the exhaust like the zeppelins did. Citation? Would not the condenser need to burn fuel, thus lightening the ship?
- imoverclocked 2y agoYou are carrying fuel and using oxygen from the atmosphere to combust it. When it's hot, it's a gas. By simply cooling it and recovering most of it, you are potentially left with more mass than you started off with... and Oxygen is relatively heavy.
- sethherr 2y agoThe article describes electric airships
- mitthrowaway2 2y agoThe GP asked about burning fuel. But in the case of electric airships, you can run an electric condenser, extracting atmospheric water vapor.
- shiroiushi 2y agoThat seems like it would be really bad for energy efficiency: now you need batteries large enough for propulsion during the whole trip, plus extra for extracting water vapor. Why not just take on some liquid water at the destination when you drop the cargo?
- Qwertious 2y agoBecause that's less flexible and there may not be water at the destination in the first place. That said, Flying Whales are trying to do exactly that, because ballast tech just isn't capable enough yet.
- bondarchuk 2y agoYou're both missing the forest for the trees, when the airship is electric obviously you don't have to add ballast while flying because you don't have to compensate for burnt fuel.
- Qwertious 2y agoThe ballast is for cargo, which needs to be picked up and dropped off. Fuel is just a potential solution.
- Ajedi32 2y agoWhy condense water from fuel or the air then when you can just connect to the local municipal water system? You're already at port!
- Qwertious 2y agoNot necessarily - the great thing about airships is that they can go anywhere, and pick up cargo at places that aren't ports. You can go pick up logs from logging camps directly, for example.
- pclmulqdq 2y ago
- QuadmasterXLII 2y agoThe article describes diesel electric airships.
- dotancohen 2y agoThe fine article shows them lowering a container from a crane. I'd love to see them connect the crane to an electric generator and actually regen the potential energy of the container into electricity.
- imoverclocked 2y agoEven more efficient might be raising another container at the same time in a (mostly) balanced manner. Then you don't have as much loss from conversion/storage. Fun fact: many inclined elevators work this way :)
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- jandrese 2y agoIt has to be more energy efficient to re-compress your lifting gas back into storage bottles. What do modern airships do? This has to be a solved problem.