Timeline for What ways are there to keep a steady altitude with large fluctuations regarding load?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
6 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Jun 3, 2019 at 16:14 | comment | added | John Locke | @Eth Depends on the outside temperature. You can extract all of the moisture provided you make the air cold enough. | |
| Jun 3, 2019 at 15:26 | comment | added | Eth | @Bellerophon Assuming the ship runs on hydrocarbon, it should more or less generate as much ballast as fuel is consumed, maybe generate slightly more ballast than fuel is consumed, mass-wise: the carbon goes away as CO2, but each two hydrogen will bring an oxygen back as H2O. Oxygen has a higher atomic weight, and at least as many oxygen atoms are brought than carbons are lost (at best twice more, if you are using methane). If some water vapour escapes, this could at least compensate for fuel consumption. And now I wonder how much moisture you can extract from air... | |
| Mar 3, 2019 at 13:52 | comment | added | John Locke | @Bellerophon When things with mass leave the ship, the ship will get lighter and start to ascend. Then more ballast would need to be collected to stop the ship from ascending. Usually though, the weight of the ship isn't changing mid-flight. That would be hard for any system to accommodate for. If the ship needs to descend, collecting air will lower the ship faster than releasing water will make the ship ascend faster than releasing air. | |
| Mar 3, 2019 at 13:46 | comment | added | John Locke | @Bellerophon Yes, collecting air as a ballast is an option, but it is so light that it needs to be compressed, which takes energy. This system is more passive. As long as the engine is running, it can collect ballast. | |
| Mar 3, 2019 at 9:38 | comment | added | Bellerophon | I may be reading this wrong but if you are only collecting water from burnt fuel won't you still lose mass because the water in the exhausts will weigh less than the mass of the entire exhaust. Also you'll lose mass when things like fighters take off. | |
| Mar 3, 2019 at 0:11 | history | answered | John Locke | CC BY-SA 4.0 |