Design-Build-Fly of OSIRCA: Oblate Spheroid Indoor Remotely Controlled Airship

K.Gnanaprakash1, K.P.Kamalraj 1, T.A.Aswath Saravanan 1, C.Gopalakrishnan 1and D. Balaji2

Hindustan College of Engineering, Chennai, India

and Rajkumar S. Pant3

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India Introduction

It is well known that a remotely controlled airship is perhaps much more viable than a remotely controlled aircraft for missions involving prolonged aerial observation of any activity occurring on the ground, (e.g. aerial coverage of Sporting events, or security patrolling), long endurance loiter, product promotion, or precise dropping of payload (e.g., showering of flowers during religious and confetti during inauguration/closing ceremonies). Airships can also be gainfully utilized in remote sensing a particular area as well as scientific experimentation such as collecting air or gas samples, measurement of local wind profiles, and solar irradiation, and agricultural applications such as spraying insecticides. A remotely controlled airship can be used for both indoor and outdoor applications. Design development and flight testing of prototypes of several Lighter-Than-Air systems for various scientific applications has been carried out at IIT Bombay since 2002 [1]. Some recent projects include indoor remotely controlled airships for neural network control hardware implementation [2], aerostats as platforms for low-cost re-locatable wireless communications systems [3], outdoor remotely controlled airships for product promotion [4], aerial river ferry using superheated steamfilled balloons [5], and aerostats for snow cover evaluation [6]. This paper aims at sharing the experience gained in design, fabrication, and flight testing of an oblate spheroid indoor airship (OSIRCA) and brings out the advantages of a spherical envelope over conventional shapes. This paper is a part of our capstone design course in aircraft design. The conceptual design, sizing, envelope fabrication and initial testing was carried out at LTA systems lab of IIT Bombay, and fabrication of gondola, system integration and testing was carried out at Hindustan College of Engineering, Chennai. The paper will be divided in three sections covering the three key themes of this project, viz., Design, Build and Fly. The section on Design will focus on selection of key parameters, viz., envelope surface area, volume, and arc length and envelope fineness ratio. It will also explain the tradeoffs during envelope material selection, and explain the procedure

Senior Undergraduate Student, Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Non-Member, AIAA Lecturer, Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Non-Member, AIAA 3 Associate Professor, Aerospace Engineering Department, Member, AIAA
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followed for geometric design of the envelope petals. This section will also explain how to account for operational issues while sizing the envelope, viz., off standard temperature and density corrections. The section on Build will provide the details obtained from design process and the procedure followed for fabrication of hull and gondola. It will outline the key fabrication procedures such as preparation of petal diagrams, cutting of envelope petals with tolerance, hooks, and provision of adequate hooks for gondola attachment. This section will also highlight various issues involved in Radio Frequency (RF) sealing technique that was employed for envelope fabrication. The section on Fly will give some insights into the operational issues related to the tuning of various parameters such as balancing, ballasting, additional tasks to ensure successful flights will be provided. The systematic procedure followed for leakage detection and removal will be described. The paper will also include some suggestions for improvements for better performance of the remotely controlled airship. Figure 1 shows a photograph of OSIRCA in a small hanger in at HCE, Chennai.

Figure 1: OSIRCA: Oblate Spheroid Indoor Remotely Controlled Airship Key Design Requirements:
OSIRCA was designed to meet certain design and operational parameters like payload, maximum speed, endurance, and operating altitude. The maximum speed of the airship was limited to less than 2m/s since we do not need much velocity for indoor purposes. Moreover if any video transmission is to be done from this airship, it should remain stationary so that the video may not get distorted due to high velocity. The altitude is fixed at 15m anticipating most of the indoor stadium will not exceed this

height. It will also be a tough task to bring down the airship using power plant if it exceeds this height. Since the weight of the battery is around 100 gms power available can be utilized only to lesser extent which gives rise to a design constraint (endurance). Table 1 lists the key requirements and design related parameters of OSIRCA.

Table 1: Key design and operational requirement of OSIRCA Design Requirements

Payload Ballast weight Max. Speed Operating Altitude (AGL) Endurance Duration of Trials/Demo Total System Cost

Value
1 kg < 0.1 kg < 2 m/s < 15 m ~ 15 min One week < US $ 500

Design methodology:
The design methodology followed was broadly on the lines proposed by Pant [7] and Sangole et al. [2], and comprised of distinct activities related to determination of preliminary design data, selection of envelope material, and design of the envelope profile. The lift and drag calculations including the effects of off standard temperature and density corrections were carried out using the formulae listed by Cheeseman in [8]. The envelope consists of eight identical petals, and the coordinates for plotting the petal profile were obtained using the scheme listed by Sangole et al. [2], shown in Fig. 2.

Figure 2: Flowchart for sizing procedure

Figure 3: Petal profile Generation

To begin with, the volume, surface area and arc length calculations were carried out, and the envelope profile coordinates were generated to determine its shape, since it is the major lift generating body in an airship. The envelope also needs to have sufficient amount and properly located hooks for gondola attachment. Most radio-controlled airships are non-rigid and their envelope is usually in the shape of a cigar that maintains its shape due to internal overpressure. Rigid models often encounter serious weight problems because of an adverse weight to volume ratio, especially for small sizes. The most difficult task is to choose a material which makes the envelope light, tough, and most important of all, gastight. It is very important to decide an appropriate shape for the envelope, since the drag experienced (and hence the power required) is a strong function of the envelope profile.

Envelope design:

The first critical decision was the selection of Spheroid shape from the various choices of conventional profiles. The main reason for this was ease in fabrication, as well as increased maneuverability, tighter turn radius, and increased reliability of fabric. These requirements and the perceived advantages of spheroid shape in meeting them will be elaborated in the final paper. After selecting the envelope shape, one must deduce all the preliminary design parameters for the fabrication of the same. Since the airship was to be used indoors, the constraints on the overall dimensions of the envelope were quite dominant. These constraints automatically put certain limitation on the volume of the envelope and thus, the net lift available as a result. Hence appropriate length and fineness ratio of the envelope was decided in an iterative fashion so that maximum possible buoyant and dynamic Lift was produced, without increasing Drag at the same time. The analysis includes determination of hoop and longitudinal stresses to ensure that the shapes are structurally capable of handling these loads, using the methodology outlined by Gupta and Malik [9]. Using all this data and information, the coordinates of each point in the envelope profile of OSIRCA were determined. This helped in the development of Petal profile coordinates which were later plotted to form a Petal template. Figure 4 shows the size of a single Petal of OSIRCA; a photograph of a Template for Petal profile, and two petals which were fabricated in the Lighter-Than-Air Systems Laboratory at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay are also shown.

Figure 4: OSIRCA Petal profile and photograph showing Petal Template and two Petals Gondola layout:
Designing a compact and low weight gondola from locally available materials with sufficient space to install the motors and equipment and the required payload turned out to be a huge design challenge.

Details of this activity will be highlighted in the paper. After a detailed analysis, the finalized Gondola Layout was arrived, as shown in Fig. 5.

Figure 5: Gondola configuration of OSIRCA

One of the perennial problems of most indoor airships has been their lack of control power, especially at low speeds. In order to alleviate this shortcoming, it was decided to provide thrust vectoring control (TVC) in OSIRCA. Moreover, thrust vectoring has some peculiar advantages when used on airships with spheroid envelopes, which will be outlined in the paper. The easiest method of thrust vectoring is by turning the propellers by rotating the connecting rod to the vector angle. Three approaches for TVC on OSIRCA were examines, the merits and demerits of each will be discussed in the paper.

Propulsion System:
Two choices were available for powering OSIRCA, viz., fuel operated IC engines or battery powered electrical motors; each has its own advantages and disadvantages. For indoor airships, the use of IC engines is impractical, and a wide range of DC motors are available. The issue of concern was the selection of appropriate motor and required power packs that could run the motor for sufficient amount time without much loss in Thrust. Based on the requirements and scrutiny of locally available motors, 2 speed-180 motors rotating at a maximum rpm of 3000 and producing a thrust of 250 grams and one speed-120 motor rotating at a maximum rpm of 1000 and producing a thrust of 25 grams are selected. Futaba S-148 standard servo was used for rotating the connecting rod. One Ni-MH type rechargeable battery is used to power up the whole set up. Battery was selected based on the design requirement (endurance).The capacity of the battery used on OSIRCA was 8.4V, 650mAh, which is able to deliver adequate power for about 20 minutes on full charge. Three propellers were used out of which two for forward thrust and the other, tail propeller for direction control. Propulsion system also has a tilting rotor mechanism so that direction of thrust can be changed up and down. In this mechanism the two propellers are attached to a connecting rod which can be tilted.

Fabrication:

This section of the paper will describe the procedure followed to fabricate a light-weight gondola and the spheroid envelope from the petal profiles. After an extensive market search, coated PVC was selected as the most appropriate material for the envelope. The selected materials that are prescribed in the gondola design section were assembled in a frame as per the design configuration selected. Proper space is provided for accommodation of payload (say a camera). Both the hull and the gondola are attached together with the help of attachment hooks. Thus, with the inclusion of procedures for shape and structural analysis of the envelope, the RC airship design methodology became more flexible and robust to size the airship as per given requirements at low cost.Two photographs of OSIRCAs gondola are shown in Figure 6.

Figure 6:Photographs of Gondola of OSIRCA

The joining of Petals was carried out using the Radio Frequency welding machine available in LTA Systems Lab. of IIT Bombay, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7:OSIRCA envelope under fabrication using RF welding machine

Circular patches were also sealed to the envelope to enable proper hooks to be attached, which are used to attach the gondola, as well as provide means for anchoring the airship while on ground. Many special issues have to be kept in mind while fabricating such envelopes, as well as key precautions have to be taken, these will be highlighted in the paper. The key components of the OSIRCA are shown in Fig 8.

SERVO PICTURE

TRANSMITTER PICTURE

MIXER PICTURE

RECEIVER PICTURE

Figure 8: Photograph of key components of OSIRCA

A Servo is a small device that has an output shaft. This shaft can be positioned to specific angular positions by sending the servo a coded signal. As long as the coded signal exists on the input line, the

servo will maintain the angular position of the shaft. As the coded signal changes, the angular position of the shaft changes. A four channel transmitter consists of four different controls. In our case the four controls are thrust, differential speed control, tail rotor and tilting of main rotor. The transmitter produces pulses with different length at each position of the control. These pulses are produced by a digital oscillator inside the transmitter. These signals are sent by the antenna to the receiver. The receiver circuit receives the modulated frequencies by the antenna. Here the frequencies are demodulated and corresponding electrical impulses are produced. These impulses are transmitted to the servos for mechanical movements corresponding to the deflections given in the transmitter. The mixer does the job of mixing the thrust and the differential speed control. The thrust control is channelized to the transmitter control in such a way that the thrust level can be fixed in a particular position. It takes the fixed thrust level as the mean and increases the speed on one main rotor and decreases on the other corresponding to the control movements. A wireless VGA camera having the transmitting capability of 50m was used to transmit the videography. Normal television set can be used to display the surveillance/video coverage. A single battery was used for both power plant and the transmitting system since it may include additional weight to OSIRCA or the need for an extra battery can be compensated.

Table 2: Key sizing parameters & Mass Breakdown of OSIRCA Key Parameters
Envelope Fineness Ratio

Value
1.56

Key Component
Envelope (including hooks and patches)

Value
2.99 kg

Envelope Surface Area

17.4

Gondola (including receiver, mixer, servo and camera and transmitter)

0.65 kg

Envelope volume

5.23

Power plant System (including battery, 3 motors and 3 propellers)

0.45 kg

Max. Height Max. Width

m m

Ballast + Payload All Up Mass

1.1 kg 5.23 kg

Table 3: Cost breakdown of OSIRCA Components

Envelope Material

Cost
Rs. 2000 per 1.3 sqm (USD 50 per 1.3 sqm)

Envelope Fabrication Relocation Expenses& internship fee Helium (Two Cylinders) Gondola and Power plant System Remote Controller Wireless Camera& VTU

Rs. 6000/- (USD 130) RS 10000/- (USD 250)

6500 per cylinder (USD 150) Cost of engine, battery, 3 propellers, one servomotors Rs. 9000/- (USD 200) Rs. 2500/- (USD 50) Rs. 10,000/- (USD 250)

Miscellaneous items Total System Cost

Rs. 1000/- (USD 25) 50000/- (USD 1100)

While testing Hydrogen was used due to low cost, less density and easy availability. Lift available while using Hydrogen will be the same as the volume of the envelope. But in application perspective, the OSIRCA would be used for indoor purposes where safety is major concern it is safe to use Helium even if it is budgeted in operating expenses.

Testing:
The paper will also outline the procedures followed for testing the envelope leakages and proper rigging to ensure control effectiveness. Schemes to be followed for proper filling of envelope with LTA gas, and precautions to be taken during flight operations will also be elaborated upon. Initially while filling the pressure available from the cylinder will be more because of high cylinder pressure. But after sometime the velocity in which the gas entering the envelope will gets reduced due to the reducing cylinder pressure and sometimes the flow may get reversed. So this has to be monitored while filling the envelope. During this process there may be leakage, normally the leakage was considered as 3liter per square meter per day. Based on this, for one week demo the number of cylinder requirement can be decided.

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Figure9: Photograph of OSIRCA while testing

After the attachment was done, the tethers were tied to a digital weighing machine for measuring the additional lift. This additional lift had to be nullified to ensure neutral buoyancy, by adding ballast weights in the gondola in such a way that it does not affect the location of center of gravity. Appropriate amount of downward thrust was then applied so that the airship could ascend and gain the desired altitude. Several test runs were carried out to check all the controls for proper functioning and to ensure adequate control power during the motion of the airship in all the directions. It is better to have a leakage test every time the airship is being used so that the leakages can be reduced as much as possible.

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Figure 10: Some OSIRCA team members at HCE and IITB

Based on the experience gained in carrying out this exercise, some suggestions for improvements in the design and fabrication of OSIRCA will also be listed, e.g., procurement of better material, use of catenary cables, and introduction of small rigid members for additional strength.

Work in progress:
The further development of the project can be done as follows:

For Envelope:
1. Better-suited material can be procured. Properties that must be sought are low surface density, low Hydrogen / Helium permeability as well as high strength. This will bring down the weight of the envelope considerably and maximise payload. 2. Use of internal catenary curtain and suspension cables can be thought of. This will improve the lenticular shape of the envelope. 3. Internal members like bars or rods can be used, converting the non-rigid airship into a semirigid one. But, it will improve the lenticular shape and strength of the envelope. 4. A device can be designed and built to measure the actual drag on the envelope, to verify the calculated values of the same.

For Gondola:
1. Use of a zip fastener to attach gondola to the envelope. 2. Use of a safety mechanism which would cause the airship to descent when a radio control is lost or when the battery power falls below a predetermined level

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3. Use of individual motor speed and direction control 4. Use of Ball Bearing to reduce friction for connecting rods. If the videography is needed to be telecasted then it is better to have an advanced camera so that the clarity of the video can be improved. And the range of the transmitter can be increased for both the camera and the power plant so that it would be used for long distance surveillance.

References:
1. Gawale, A. C. and Pant, R. S., Design, Fabrication And Flight Testing Of Remotely Controlled Airships, Proceedings of National Conference on LTA Technologies, Aerial Delivery R&D Establishment, Agra, October 2002. 2. Sangole, R., Agashe, S., Palshikar, K., Nakanekar, G., Design, Fabrication and Testing of Remotely Controlled Indoor Airship employed for Neural Networks Hardware Experimentation, Undergraduate Project Thesis, Mechanical Engineering Department, PVG College of Engineering, University of Pune, India, 2006 3. Gawande, V.N., Raina A. A., Bilaye, P., Pant, R. S., and Desai, U. B., Design and Fabrication of an Aerostat for Wireless Communication in Remote Areas, AIAA-2007-7832, Proceedings of AIAAs 7thAviation, Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference and 17th Lighter-Than-Air Systems Technology Conference, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK, Sep. 2007. 4. Gawale, A., Raina, A. A., Pant, R. S. and Jahagirdar, Y. P., Design Fabrication and Operation of Low Cost Remotely Controlled Airships in India, AIAA-2008-8853, Proceedings of AIAAs 8th Aviation Technology Integration and Operations (ATIO) Conference, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, Sep. 14-19, 2008. 5. Banerjee, S., Raina, A. A., and Pant, R. S., Low Cost Trans-river Aerial Ferry, AIAA-20088851, Proceedings of AIAAs 8th Aviation Technology Integration and Operations (ATIO) Conference, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, Sep. 14-19, 2008. 6. Bhandari, K. M., and Raina A. A., Conceptual Design Of A High Altitude Aerostat For Study Of Snow Pattern, Proceedings of International Symposium on Snow & Avalanches (ISSA09), SASE, Manali, India, 6-10 April 2009. 7. Pant, R. S., A methodology for arriving at the baseline specifications of a non-rigid airship,Technical Note, AIAA Journal of Aircraft, Vol. 45, No. 6, pp. 2177-2182, Nov-Dec 2008. 8. Cheeseman, I., Chapter 2: Aerodynamics, In Airship Technology, Khoury G.A., Gillet, J. D., eds., Cambridge Aerospace Series 10, Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, 1999, pp. 25 38. 9. Gupta, S., and Malik, S., Envelope Details for Demo Airship, PADD Project Report, Aerial Delivery R&DEstablishment, Jan-2002.

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