Hey DIY enthusiasts!
Today I am proudly presenting to you ObliX argo, the new concept for our airship-drone.
ObliX argo can be operated in two flight modes:
1. Airplane mode:
Propulsion is mainly supplied by the slow turning stern propeller. Maneuvering is achieved by the empennage. Like this, maximum energy efficiency is achieved for traveling long distances.
2. Helicopter mode:
Propulsion and maneuvering is mainly supplied by 8 fast turning electric ducted fans. Like this, maximum maneuverability in all 6 degrees-of-freedom (forward/backward, left/right, up/down, yaw and a little pitch and roll) is achieved instantly.
Read all the details about ObliX argo in our blog-post:
On our homepage we also have an interactive 3D model.
I want to say a big thank you to Johannes Eißing for his great Sleipnir idea and to Alexander Richter for his awesome AirshipLAB! You can read about both of these on our facebook group "Small Airship Union".
Now it's your turn: What do you think about this concept? Do you have questions or suggestions for improvement?
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Comments
@Damian McKay Earl II
Applications are especially long duration flights of up to 8 h. These could be
- search & rescue missions over large areas on land or on the sea
- wild life conservation monitoring,
- surveillance e.g. for festivals
- 3D mapping of large areas
- ... add your own! :)
Me personally, I want to go on virtual journeys to discover unknown terrains or just enjoy the landscape in a new way.
@naish88
I sent you a friend request including my Skype address. Would be great if we could get connected. (I am not able to send you a PM unless we are friends on here.)
What are the applications? Pretty cool!
@ Daniel
Yes sure, drop me a PM and I will give you my skype address.
@naish88
Wow, you have been into the UAV airships business? That's great! I would love to learn from you to avoid doing the same mistakes all over again. Would you be so kind and tell me more about your experiences and learnings from that time? If you really know 100 reasons why airship-drones are unpractical, I would like to know every single one of them, please!
@Pbreed, I know that wind is the biggest issue, but I think it can be handled up to a certain degree. Airships have flown and they still are.
Why are they not practical?
One word:Wind...
Better to start thinking about that, because one of the big issues is keeping the envelope pressurised. If anyone thinks that airship are simple machines, they are totally wrong. When you get anything above few M^2 the complexity of the system increases.
Why I think that are impractical for commercial op... simple, because I have spent few years using and developing UAV airships form 10 to 12m, for commercial op. I know about 100 reasons why they are unpractical.
@naish88,
The volume of the ballonet could be adjusted by an internal fand and a valve. I haven't spent much time yet to think about this question. Do you have any suggestion?
Why do you think that "airships are not really practical machines for commercial operations."?
Looks really nice. How did you adjust the internal volume in your ballonet?
Unfortunately airships are not really practical machines for commercial operations.
Nice to see this project!
I thought once to project one "airship drone", but unfortunately I didn't had time.
But now Im gonna keep following this project! Congratulations!
@Thomas,
It is not a rigid hull. It is called a semi-rigid airship because it has an inner frame, wich is not visible in my picture. The purpose of the frame is to hold the empennage and the propulsion system.
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