An example balloon system for long-duration flight can include an optically transparent envelope for solar greenhouse heating of lift gas within, a fuel cell inside a bladder within the envelope, and a solar collector beneath the bladder configured to concentrate solar energy in a focal region below the bladder. The fuel cell can include hydrogen gas, oxygen gas, and a water reservoir in a bottom portion of the bladder, and could be configured to generate electricity to run a heater to heat the lift gas during night-time hours. The example system can also include a heat engine configured with a hot side in the focal region and a cold side in the water reservoir. The heat engine could be configured to generate power by transferring heat from the hot side to the cold side, and the power could be used to recharge the fuel cell during daylight hours.
Hot air balloon with solar collector and heat-engine-driven fuel cell
2016-03-22
Patent
Electronic Resource
English
IPC: | B64B LIGHTER-THAN-AIR AIRCRAFT , Luftfahrzeuge leichter als Luft |
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