Vacuum Airship Design Patent

[Brickjectivity]

I check in on this idea from time to time. A vacuum airship is a theoretical type of dirigible which uses a vacuum instead of helium or hydrogen. Up until now its been impossible, and so dirigibles have been fragile and dangerous relatively speaking. You can't build on them.

This could change, and we may find in our lifetimes people building flying cars. Recently in another thread Landon was talking about overpopulation and somehow brought up this newish material they call metallic glass. That got me looking around, and I found a patent application for a vacuum balloon filed in 2005.

http://akhmeteli.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/vacuum_balloons_cip.pdf

It contains some discussion about the feasibility of this and proposes a way to construct lighter than air chambers. How about that?

What do ya think?

 

[David1967]

Meet George Jetson.

 

[Bob the Unbeliever]

I check in on this idea from time to time. A vacuum airship is a theoretical type of dirigible which uses a vacuum instead of helium or hydrogen. Up until now its been impossible, and so dirigibles have been fragile and dangerous relatively speaking. You can't build on them.

This could change, and we may find in our lifetimes people building flying cars. Recently in another thread Landon was talking about overpopulation and somehow brought up this newish material they call metallic glass. That got me looking around, and I found a patent application for a vacuum balloon filed in 2005.

http://akhmeteli.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/vacuum_balloons_cip.pdf

It contains some discussion about the feasibility of this and proposes a way to construct lighter than air chambers. How about that?

What do ya think?

Stasis Fields are always a common staple in Science Fiction.

I had always thought that one of the more interesting uses of a stasis field, would be to put one around a thin membrane-- out in space-- with almost no pressure, just enough to inflate the membrane. Then put in a stasis, and drag back down into the atmosphere.

Obviously, stasis fields are imaginary. But metallic glass? And areogel.

Both of these have promise. Interesting story.

 

[Stevicus]

I check in on this idea from time to time. A vacuum airship is a theoretical type of dirigible which uses a vacuum instead of helium or hydrogen. Up until now its been impossible, and so dirigibles have been fragile and dangerous relatively speaking. You can't build on them.

This could change, and we may find in our lifetimes people building flying cars. Recently in another thread Landon was talking about overpopulation and somehow brought up this newish material they call metallic glass. That got me looking around, and I found a patent application for a vacuum balloon filed in 2005.

http://akhmeteli.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/vacuum_balloons_cip.pdf

It contains some discussion about the feasibility of this and proposes a way to construct lighter than air chambers. How about that?

What do ya think?

Pretty cool, but does it fold up into a briefcase?

 

[Enoch07]

I check in on this idea from time to time. A vacuum airship is a theoretical type of dirigible which uses a vacuum instead of helium or hydrogen. Up until now its been impossible, and so dirigibles have been fragile and dangerous relatively speaking. You can't build on them.

This could change, and we may find in our lifetimes people building flying cars. Recently in another thread Landon was talking about overpopulation and somehow brought up this newish material they call metallic glass. That got me looking around, and I found a patent application for a vacuum balloon filed in 2005.

http://akhmeteli.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/vacuum_balloons_cip.pdf

It contains some discussion about the feasibility of this and proposes a way to construct lighter than air chambers. How about that?
What do ya think?

Pretty cool idea. Whatever material it gets made of has to be extremely lightweight, durable, and airtight. A vacuum held like that will exert an extreme force on the structure holding it. With that it would not take much outside force to collapse the chamber. So it must be protected outside just as well. Any cracks at all will cause the vacuum to be lost and the craft will lose elevation rapidly.

Basically I think it mostly hinges on coming up with the ultra light weight material needed. Aerogel is porous so it won't be able to hold a vacuum reliable, without filling it with something which would just weigh it down, so I don't think aerogel is the way to go for this particular project. Maybe a like carbon nanofiber coating on aerogel? That might work.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

a hydrogen bag has to be huge to provide adequate lifting power, a helium one even larger.
A vacuum would still need to be huge as it is the displacement of air that gives the lift equal to the weight of the air displaced.

A container of any given size displaces the same amount of air what ever it is filled with. so it provides the same lift.
However a hydrogen filled container weighs more than a vacuum filled one... but not by much. so there probably would be no advantage as a vacuum container has to be far stronger than a hydrogen filled one ( which self inflates to maintain its shape) and would weigh more overall than a hydrogen one.
As an idea it would never take off.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Air weighs 1.293 KG per cubic meter
Hydrogen .082 KG
Helium .1785 KG
So a vacuum would provide 1.293 Kg of lift per cubic meter
Hydrogen provide 1.211 KG of lift per cubic meter
and helium 1.1145 KG of lift per cubic meter.
So a vacuum would provide little advantage any which way, even if the container weighed nothing.
And it would still be a vast craft.