sphericalone

a solar powered blimp does the trick just fine

A spinning windmill blimp.does'nt need solar panels.the spinng action helps the generator produce eletricity ,the electricity is sent down the tether to a collector/storage and distributed,just got to get that spinning windmill blimp up there about 3,000 feet. there's always wind at that level.the spinning windmill will turn into the wind.the bigger the windmill the more power you get.got to bring it down once in a while to refill it with helium,but thats it.the tehnology would really have to be in the light weight generators attatched to the windmill/blimp.

Fuel cells do have a lot of advantages and Karoliina is correct that the methanol fuel cells produce more power than their battery cousins (and have a longer useful life since they don't work by oxidation/reduction).

 

The whole idea of clean hydrogen never has considered how you make it and transport it. While hydrogen has more power per kilogram, it takes a lot more volume of hydrogen to the same fossil fuels needs.

 

There have been attempts to use photovoltaics to extract hydrogen, and wind farms, etc can be used to do the same but these do offer thus far the capacity needed to make vast quantities of H2. Certain types of fission reactors can be used to generate these quantities, but then the problem of transport remains (ie can current pipeline technology be safely used to at three time the current pressure).

 

I would love to see fuel cell technology succeed. This will happen and it will happen in our lifetimes (well I guess that depends on your current health!!). Hydrogen transmission is still up in the air in my book since some basic physics have to be applied. Other energy technologies may beat hydrogen to the market place (fusion, room temp superconductors) first.

a solar powered blimp does the trick just fine

Additional info and design update

Negative, there is no need to have a motor to pressurize the bladder.The bladder is inside the kite sail.So it's sort of like a kite-blimp.go to www.livevideo.com/sphericalone to see the concepts involved.The whole thing could have a canard configuration.The spherical looking things are simply prop guards.The spherical shape would allow for a shroud to open and close on the bottom half of the prop guards to distribute airflow in the desired direction.I have'nt built the shrouds yet.I'm constructing mock up models for aerodynamic tests,so far they glide very well without motors.(or helium) but I still want to lighten the load by incorporating the He bladder inside the kite sail this will help it hover and take the strain off the motors in this mode.

The reason for using the ball is that it can act as a gimbal .Actually only half of the ball is used.,but it's that half that is used that acts as the "duct" .In using this shape I get more space which means I get to use a bigger prop which translates into more thrust.By connecting to it's other half and by making that other half moveable I eliminate weight by not having to use extra hardware for a gimbal set up.If I use ducted fans I have to put it on a gimbal and the props are so small there"s not enough thrust.Helium doe'snt really provide much lift unless you have a large bladder,but I found out that even an air filled bladder is ok too.I'm creating an airfoil that uses this pressure to make it rigid over 95% of its area the rest is rudder,elevon and hardware.The entire idea got started by trying to find a way to hover longer to take photos of the rain forest.Usually a hot air balloon does this job,but I like the idea of being able to get out of there quicker when it starts to rain.

I'll try posting a photo here that givew more detail but it may not work

yes there is a larger view at rc groups sphericalone go to sphericalone at rc groups I posted picture there because it wont post here it's too large.sorry:sad:

This is how it works.In one half of the sphere is a motor and prop.In the other half is nothing but an exit port.This portion rotates 180 degrees to vector thrust for transition to horizontal from vertical.As you can see from my model they are placed on either side of the craft and a small one in the tail.It's a canard hybrid vtol.

Thanks to this forum I'm learning where to get everything I need to get started. Just a note on the low pressure vaccuum bagging its the best thing ever.

this is a rc mock up i wanted to fly it for real but it might be too heavy:mad:

the small depron model flies i m probably going to be told to go to another forum for this but before you get your shorts twisted i should say i am really interested in canard designs because of the stability but i have a tendancy to tweak it a bit sometimes just to see how the various factors involved react differently to new environments.So I moved up to kit canards and continue to learn about all the fun involved in building one as well as expense and time

this is a rc mock up i wanted to fly it for real but it might be too heavy:mad: