Paper 2004-01 - Design Studies of Power Plant System of Non-Rigid Airships

Amol C. Gawale1, Rajkumar S. Pant2

Aerospace Engineering Department

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai- 400076

Abstract: by the desired performance parameter such

Power plant is of prime concern in the as max. speed, operating altitude, range and
engineering design of a Non-Rigid airship. endurance. However, power plant design is
Such airships usually operate with a also affected by several features and
gondola-mounted ducted propulsive requirements such as engine location,
system. This paper provides an overview symmetry of the thrust, noise level, noise
of the power plant system, design issues in isolation, vibration isolation, mechanisms for
engine sizing and selection, advances in engine control, and fuel tank location.
engine technology, various concepts for Aesthetics and Ergonomics also play a very
thrust vectoring and a methodology for important part in the design process, and
sizing and selection of design features of lead to several compromises in the design.
an airship engine.
Design issues in engine sizing and
Introduction: selection:
Airships are Lighter-Than-Air aircraft, Some important issues that affect the sizing
which generate lift due to buoyancy of the and selection of the engine for an airship are
lifting gas. The lift is produced by the net as follows:
density difference between the ambient air
and a lighter-than-air gas (which, in most Max. ‘In Flight’ fuel usage
cases is Helium) that is confined in a Based on the region of operation, range and
calculated space by means of a bag like onboard power requirements, the maximum
non-rigid structure called Envelope. The ‘in flight’ fuel usage can be worked out with
net disposable lift (i.e. the gross lift ease and accuracy. This ‘in flight’ fuel usage
generated minus the empty weight of the is limited by the two extremities viz. Takeoff
airship) can be utilized as payload to carry Heaviness and Landing Lightness; former is
Passengers or cargo. Airships may sound a the airship mass greater than the static
bit old-fashioned, but the non-rigid lighter equilibrium and latter is airship mass lower
than air vessel is a state of the art than static equilibrium. For a multi-engined
surveillance platform. It can float for days airship, Takeoff Heaviness is limited by the
at a time carrying on radar surveillance, ability of the airship to climb to an altitude
and is ideal for accompanying a naval task of 50 feet without any loss of height at any
force. Airships are being gainfully point in the flight path, following an engine
employed all over the world for failure at the critical point. Landing
multifarious applications including product Lightness is limited to a point at which the
promotion, specialty tourism, aerial airship ceases to be easily controllable
photography & surveillance, wild life during landing by an average ability pilot.
tracking, Cargo transportation, and also in
several military roles. As an airship continues its operation, the
Conceptual design of the power plant for onboard fuel continues to burn, as a result,
non-rigid Airship is affected by many the airship becomes somewhat lighter; and
parameters. Its sizing is primarily driven its weight could sometimes go beyond the
1 equilibrium. For this reason a proper
Project Engineer
2
Associate Professor
Gawale, A., Pant, R. Design studies of Power Plant System of Non-Rigid Airship

mechanism has to be developed for the maximum in-flight fuel usage, as

maintaining the airship weight with discussed above.
minimum oscillations about the static
equilibrium.

Hunt has suggested that the weight lost in

terms of fuel used during flight can be
compensated using the following methods
[1]:

1) On-board ballast recovery systems:

In this method, the water vapor present in
the engine exhaust is recovered and stored Fig. 1: Maximum in-flight fuel usage
on-board, or the moisture present in the
ambient atmospheres is condensed and Engine Selection
collected. This method leads to additional The range of propulsive power required for
cost and complexity, increase in power level flight in an airship is far greater than
consumption, and airship empty weight. that in Heavier-Than-Air (H-T-A) aircraft.
This presents problems in selection of a
2) Ballasting with water: suitable engine for an airship. Specific fuel
In this method, the airship is brought consumptions quoted by engine manu-
down, and the weight lost due to facturers are based on H-T-A requirements,
consumption of fuel is replenished by an where, except in circum-stances such as
intake of equivalent amount of water. This power-off descents, ‘in flight’ power is
method seams to be applicable only while usually in excess of 50 % of take off power.
flying over the ocean, river or a water Normally, manufacturers quote the SFC for
body. A great skill is expected from the either max. cruise, max. continuous or for
pilot while doing such maneuvers because take-off power (TOP). MCP will normally
as an airship is made to fly low, its be at least 80% of the TOP. Fig. 2 shows the
structure (especially the envelope) will be SFC variation with % engine power for
prone to higher stresses due to the various aircraft types.
presence of gusts and turbulence
disturbances, which can cause structural
damage.

3) Dumping Helium:
In this method, the equivalent weight lost
in terms of fuel used is compensated by
releasing Helium. However, this method
leads to a substantial increase in operating
cost, since Helium is a very expensive and
rare source, hence it should be only as the
last resort, such as during emergencies. Fig. 2: SFC for different aero engines and
their application for various airborne
Innovative efforts towards development of vehicles
efficient ballast recovery systems using
Solar, Fuel cells and/or battery powered
airships will probably provide a lasting
solution to this problem. Fig. 1 explains

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Gawale, A., Pant, R. Design studies of Power Plant System of Non-Rigid Airship

It can be seen that there is little difference Further, the choice of the engine type is also
at these two ratings and relatively small influenced by the total operating cost i.e.,
differences over the full power range for initial cost, running cost in terms of
H-T-A machines. maintenance expenses and fuel as well as the
Airships operate at take-off power settings effect of the weight on payload to be carried.
for very short periods (typically 30
seconds), in order to obtain short field
lengths and high take off heaviness, and
cruise at much lower percentage powers.
A typical power on a small airship cruising
at about 55 kmph could be less than 20 %
of the TOP. At this low power, SFC for all
engines are higher especially for turbines
where they may be up to over four times
that either TOP or MCP. The poor SFC of
turbines at lower power is possibly
explained by their self-sustaining ground
idle fuel flow. One of the most popular
small turbines has the fuel flow at ground Fig. 3: Propulsion system weight +fuel
idle (zero horsepower) of 34 kg/hr/eng. A weight Vs duration for two different
similar sized piston engine equipped, small engine types
airship could be cruising at in excess of 64
kmph with this total ship fuel flow. Power off-take
For short duration flights, there may be Electrical power demand to drive systems
advantages in using turbines. This is such as air conditioning in passenger
because of their lighter installation weight airships, or missions fit for military
compared with currently certified piston operations, tends to be much greater now
engines (it may be possible to mount them than in previous years. Because of the very
outboard and vector them if their oil low power required to propel the airship,
system allows). However the flight systems consume a much higher percentage
duration at which the turbine-powered ship of the total power required than on H-T-A-
becomes less attractive than one powered aircraft.
by reciprocating engines, becomes lower Compared with an H-T-A aircraft (requiring
as cruise speed increases. This is because 5 to 15 % of the total engine power to drive
the higher fuel flow of the turbine- the electronics), on some of the military
powered ship will cancel the advantage of systems that have been investigated in the
their lighter installation weight of the airship role, the electrical power required has
engine above this duration. The duration at been well over 65% of the total power
which this happens can be determined by required at low medium cruise speeds. This
constructing a chart shown in Fig. 3 for the means that the fuel used to generate the
size of the airship and power plants being electrical power requirement may be
considered. considerably greater driver in determining
This chart should be calculated for all the the duration of the ship than the propulsive
engines. If no form of ballast recovery is power required as they are both included as
fitted, the amount of fuel used (including parts of the maximum ‘in flight’ fuel usage.
reserves and ballast that may be dumped) It follows that much care must be taken in
must not exceed the difference between deciding how this power should be taircraft
maximum heaviness and maximum APUs are invariably powered by small
lightness in normal use. turbines with poor SFCs (by L-T-A
standards) and are mainly producers of large

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Gawale, A., Pant, R. Design studies of Power Plant System of Non-Rigid Airship

quantities of air rather than electrical Advances in Engine Technology:

power the airship requires. Piston powered Fuel and its availability is the first thing to
APUs driving electrical generators usually be worked out the before selection of the
require developing for the specific engine type. In many areas of the world
application, normally at very high cost. If today, availability of petrol for aviation
possible, the best solution is to drive applications is still vary scarce. Hence,
generators from the propulsion engines petrol engines will not be a good choice for
which invariably give the lowest SFC (and airships meant to operate in such areas. It is
installed weight) and hence fuel usage- but reported that two-stroke diesel technology
depending on the types of engines used, will eventually find an application in airship
matching of engine/ generator RPM ranges technology [5]. With little modification,
may cause problems. Also, depending on Diesel engine’s ability to run on anything
the electrical power required during the from diesel through to kerosene allows it to
take-off phase, it may require a rework of be operated virtually anywhere. There are
the take-off power required. exciting prospects for the two-stroke diesel
engine in Aviation; some manufacturers
Engine Drives and propellers have modular two-stroke diesel engine
While taking decision on the engine- range; configurations include V-twin, Radial
propeller combination, care has to be taken 4 and Radial 8 cylinder with high degree of
to obtain the propeller efficiency as high as compactness and minimum number of the
possible and also thrust vectoring should parts, producing good power and retaining
be possibly an option in any case. Many full aerobatic capability. A supercharged
mechanisms are possible for the engine two-stroke diesel also has none of the
and propeller combination viz., lubricant/intake air contamination problems
1. Engine mounted within the gondola, that lead to the exhaust like smoky, smelly
and propellers driven by means of the petrol two-stoke engine. Dry sump pressure
belt drives with reduced RPM. This lubrications, with the clean air used for
arrangement can result in propeller scavenge going directly into the cylinders,
efficiencies up to 70% at normal not via the crankcase is a milestone in Diesel
airship cruising speeds, unless very Design evolution. Using direct injection, the
large slow turning propellers are used. engine breathes through piston ports for both
2. Propeller directly coupled to the engine inlet and exhaust, so there are no poppet
without and reduction gear box outside valves, camshaft or valve gear. Modern
the gondola or to the envelope. The diesel engine has some unique features to
efficiency will be in the range of 50-55 combat inherent piston engine imbalances
% in the cruise segment [1]. This is and reduce vibration. Requiring minimal
because their design is not set to counterbalance and contributing to the
moderate RPMs as required for airship engine’s low weight. Diesel engines can be
cruising speeds. Installed efficiencies made to run at propeller speed so that it does
are much lower than the values quoted not require reduction gearboxes and right-
by propeller manufacturers, due to the angle drives of the existing airship engines.
problems in matching the performance This leads to better performance and higher
with engine output RPMs. propeller efficiency and hence further weight
Higher propeller efficiency will be reduction.
possible if engine, propeller and airship
manufacturers work in coordination for Thrust Vectoring System:
design of a specific airship engine. During in-flight operation an airship requires
some maneuverability in terms of pitching
and turning, to tackle some difficult
operational scenarios. Also, while taking off,

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Gawale, A., Pant, R. Design studies of Power Plant System of Non-Rigid Airship

the complete thrust arising from the engine airship takes- off, the total thrust is diverted
driven propeller has to be directed towards bottom by adjusting the angles of
downward. Thrust vectoring systems are the vanes, as shown in Position three in Fig.
required to achieve this. Based on the 4. The desired position of the vanes when
weight of the propulsion system, thrust the airship is in Cruise mode is also shown
vectoring system weight is 0.12 to 0.16 kg in Fig. 4.
per kg of vectored mass of air, which is
only a small part (4% to 6%) of the whole Provision can be made to position the
propulsion system weight as stated by louvers at any desired intermediate position
Craig in [1] also, allowing any desired split between
The two configurations for providing upward and forward components of the
thrust vectoring are possible, viz.: thrust forces. Lofting of the cross section
1.Combined Ducted propeller-engine from circular to square or rectangular is
Thrust vectoring system: - The required for achieving minimum fabricating
complete thrust system comprising cost by making identical louver vanes.
engine, propeller and duct collectively Since undesirable gyroscopic torque is
rotated as desired. In this type, efforts removed, as there is no rotation of engine-
required are more due to addition of propeller-Duct system, lesser effort is
gyroscopic torque. Also, because of required to move all vanes simultaneously
increased torsional moments while through their respective angular displace-
rotating, required load bearing ments. Also there is no need to provide more
members gets increased leading to members for load bearing, thus leading to
additional gondola weight. Thus minimum weight of the gondola. This is a
engines can not be put little away from suitable option from reliability, thrust
the gondola so as to have minimal recovery and ease of manufacturing and for
noise and vibrations. Despite of all effortless operation.
these effects, system is quite simple to However, to use such a configuration as a
realize and can be worked out for small thrust vectoring system, some experiment-
airships. ation has to be carried out so as to obtain the
2. Multiple louver vane system: - This data about the performance of the whole
system basically consists of circular configuration to obtain the net thrust and
duct over the propeller which is then normal force available from the engine +
lofted in square/rectangular shape. At propeller + thrust vectoring louver system for
this end, some louver shaped vanes are various louver angles.
attached in a circular fashion as shown
in the Fig. 4.

Fig. 5: Set up for validating thrust vector-

Fig. 4 Louver profile vane thrust vector- ing system
ing system A conceptual sketch illustrating the set up for
validating the thrust vectoring system by
Some vanes may be attached at the mounting it on a streamlined vehicle is shown
bottom of the duct too. Now, when the above in Fig. 5.

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Gawale, A., Pant, R. Design studies of Power Plant System of Non-Rigid Airship

This vehicle can be suitably instrumented, Effect of power plant related design
and force, torque and fuel flow measure- features and options:
ment can be carried out by running it at a The choice of engine type (Diesel or Petrol)
uniform speed on a smooth road or level affects the engine specific fuel consumption
test tracks. Alternatively, the above studies and weight per unit power. These parameters
could be carried out by mounting the power were taken as 0.46 lb/(HP-hr) and 0.85
plant assembly in an Open-Jet wind tunnel. kg/HP for Petrol engines and 0.37 lb/(HP-hr)
and 1.025 kg/HP for Diesel engines,
Methodology for sizing and selection of respectively, which are the average of the
an airship engine: values suggested by Cheeseman in [1].
A methodology for arriving at the baseline The choice of normally aspirated v/s
specifications of a non-rigid airship of supercharged engine affects the value of the
conventional configuration, given the power lapse factor with altitude, which, for
performance and operational requirements normally aspirated piston-prop engines was
has been developed as part of the ongoing estimated using the formula in Eq. 1
Program on Airship Design & suggested by Raymer [3]. For supercharged
Development (PADD) at IIT, Bombay. engines, kalt is assumed to be unity.
This methodology uses statistical data ⎛ (1 − σ crH ) ⎞
related to existing airships, and arrives at k alt = σ crH − ⎜ ⎟ (1)
⎝ 7 . 55 ⎠
the geometric parameters based on
empirical and semi-empirical equations,
Where, kalt, scrH are lapse factor with altitude
most of which were taken from standard
and air density at cruising altitude. The use
design textbooks such as Khoury & Gillett
of ducted propeller leads to improved
[1], Raymer [3] and Stinton [4]. The
propeller efficiency lower noise levels and
methodology calculates the power
higher operational safety near ground, at the
requirements based on the operational
cost of increase in weight and complexity.
inputs such as Range, Cruising speed and
Stinton [4] has plotted the variation in
altitude, Pressure Height and Atmospheric
propeller efficiency of propellers and ducted
conditions. The details of the methodology
fans with airspeed. The mean values of
are reported in [2], due to paucity of space.
propeller efficiency for un-ducted and
The selection of a particular power-plant
ducted fan in the speed range of 70 to 90
related design feature or option as listed in
kmph were taken as 0.53 and 0.76,
Table 1 has a direct effect on some of the
respectively. The weight of the un-ducted
parameter values, as discussed below.
propeller, ducted propeller and the duct was
taken as 0.175, 0.125 and 0.375 kg /HP,
Design respectively, which are the mean of the
Option 1 Option 2
Feature range for these values suggested by Craig in
Engine Type Diesel Petrol [1].
Engine Normally Supercharg Provision of thrust vectoring leads to an
Charging aspirated ed additional weight penalty, which is estimated
Propeller as 14% of the weight of the vectored mass.
Ducted Un-ducted
Type This value is the mean of the range
Thrust suggested by Craig in [1].
Present Absent
Vectoring A simple transmission system with no
Transmission separate accessory gearbox was assumed to
Simple Complex
system weigh 0.17 kg/HP installed power. On the
Table 1: The optimal design features for other hand, a complex system including
initial sizing of the power plant accessory drives was assumed to weigh
0.275 kg/HP of installed power. These
figures are the mean of the ranges suggested

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Gawale, A., Pant, R. Design studies of Power Plant System of Non-Rigid Airship

by Craig in [1] for an inboard engine and

outboard propeller configuration.

This methodology was applied to carry out

conceptual design studies of two airships,
viz. Demo airship and PaxCargo airship.
Demo airship is capable of operating with
a payload of around 100 kg under hot and
high conditions in mountainous regions at
a cruise altitude of 3500 m at ISA +150 C,
while the PaxCargo airship has a payload Fig. 7: Three views of PaxCargo Airship
capacity of 1500 kg under the same
operating conditions. Three view diagrams
of Demo and PaxCargo airships are shown References:
in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, respectively. [1] Khoury G. A., and Gillettt, J. D.,
Eds., “Airship Technology”, Cambridge
Based on the knowledge gained during the Aerospace Series: 10, ISBN 0-521-430-747,
literature survey and study, the method- Cambridge University Press, 1999
ology provides the baseline specifications
for the suitable engine for the airships. [2] Pant R. S., “A Methodology for
With this knowledge, a large amount of Determination of Baseline Specifications of
information about different kinds of such A Non-Rigid Airship”, 3rd Annual Aviation
engines has been collected and collated. A Technology, Integration, & Operations
classification has been done for these (ATIO) Forum, AIAA, Denver, Colorado,
engines based on its SHP in the increasing USA, 2003
order. Table 2 and Table 3 list some
parameters related to the engines for Demo [3] Raymer D. P., “Aircraft Design: A
and PaxCargo airships, respectively. As Conceptual Approach”, AIAA Education
more space was required for representing series, AIAA, Washington D.C., USA,
these two tables, they are shown after the 1989.
references.
[4] Stinton D., "The Design of The
Aeroplane”, Blackwell Science Limited,
UK, ISBN 0-632-01877-1, 1995.

[5] "Lighter than Air", Diesel Car

Magazine, Germany, Nov. 1994

Fig. 6: Three views of Demo Airship

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Gawale, A., Pant, R. Design studies of Power Plant System of Non-Rigid Airship

Engine Weight Max.

Arrangement Cooling
Type (Dry) Power
kg kW HP
6 cylinder, horizontally
NOVIKO
105 110 148 opposed, 2 strokes, Liquid
DN-200
diesel
4 cylinder in X
ZOCHE
84 110 150 configuration, 2 stroke Air
ZOD1A
diesel
WANKEL
ROTARY 4 rotor wankel diesel
119 110 148 Liquid
TWIN engine
PACK
2 rotor wankel diesel
VAZ 426 125 110 148 Liquid
engine

Table 2: Candidate engines for Demo Airships

Weight Max. Max.

Engine Type Arrangement Cooling
Dry Power Rpm
kg kW HP
2 stroke 2 cyl.,
HIRTH F31 26.5 29.1 39.0 Air
horizontally opposed
2 stroke 2 cylinder in
HIRTH 2702 31.0 29.8 40.0 5500 Air
line
2 stroke 2 cylinder in
HIRTH 2701 32.8 32.1 43.0 Air
line
ROTAX 2 stroke 2 cylinder in
26.8 29.8 40.0 6800 Air
447UL-IV line
ROTAX 2 stroke 2 cylinder in
26.8 31.3 42.0 6800 Air
447UL-2V line
UAV AR 731 1 rotor wankel-type
10.0 27.6 37.0 7800 Air
* spark ignition
1 rotor wankel-type Air assisted by
UAV AR 741 10.7 50.0? 67.0 ? 7800
spark ignition centrifugal fan
WANKEL
ROTARY
25.0 27.2 36.4 1 rotor wankel diesel Liquid
LCR 407
SGTI
WANKEL
ROTARY 38.0 33.1 44.4 1 rotor wankel diesel Liquid
LCR 407 SD
VRDE RE-4- 2 stroke 4 cyl.,
22.0 27.6 37.0 5500 Air
37-P horizontally opposed

Table 3: Candidate engines for PaxCargo airship

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