Recently, there have been several proposals submitted to funding agencies for long-lived high altitude (about 70,000 feet) airships for communications, surveillance, etc. In order for these airships to remain at altitude, high power, high efficiency, lightweight solar arrays must be used, and high efficiency power management and distribution systems must be employed. The needs for high power and high efficiency imply high voltage systems. However, the air pressure at these extreme altitudes is such that electrical power systems will be near the Paschen discharge minimum over a wide range of electrode separations. In this paper, preliminary calculations are made for acceptable high voltage design practices under ambient, hydrogen and helium gas atmospheres.


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    Title :

    Paschen Considerations for High Altitude Airships


    Contributors:

    Conference:

    42nd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit ; 2004 ; Reno, NV, United States


    Publication date :

    2004-01-01


    Type of media :

    Preprint


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English


    Keywords :


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