ANCHORING VEHICLE FOR ANCHORING AN AIRSHIP AT THE TAIL WHILST COUPLED TO A MOORING-MAST AT THE BOW

Abstract

An anchoring vehicle for anchoring an airship at the tail whilst coupled to a mooring mast at the bow. Airships are generally coupled at the bow to a mooring-mast after landing on the ground. However, vertical gusts can result to a considerable amount of damage to the airship with this mechanism. To avoid such damage, the proposed anchoring mechanism designed as an anchoring vehicle, is coupled via an anchor-mast to the tail of the airship near the height of its middle axis. Thus, the vehicle stabilizes the airship vertically and can independently maneuver horizontally without considerable rolling resistance to a predefined airship position, thus preventing a tilting moment. The all-terrain, autonomous anchoring vehicle captures direction and strength data of horizontal deflection caused by wind power via sensors on the anchoring-mast. A control unit regulates the drive systems for navigation and wheel drive.

Claims

1. An anchoring vehicle for anchoring an airship at a tail of the airship, comprising: a height adjustable anchoring-mast mounted to said anchoring vehicle with a ball and socket joint, a coupling location of said anchoring-mast being positioned at a height of the airship's middle axis, the anchoring mast comprising: a) coupling devices and spring devices, b) a minimum of three suspension cables each equipped with a force sensor, or a minimum of two sensors with unequal operating direction that are integrated in a rigid coupling of the anchoring-mast; and c) a measuring device for measuring horizontal wind force upon the airship arranged on the anchoring vehicle, at least three wheels that are drivable and steerable, and a control unit and servomotors for steering and driving the wheels depending on measured values of the force sensors, enabling the anchoring vehicle to independently move in a horizontal direction to the airship's position dictated by the wind direction.

2. The anchoring vehicle according to claim 1, wherein said coupling devices comprise electromagnetic or mechanically driven holding brackets.

3. The anchoring vehicle of claim 1, wherein said wheels have a positive steering roll radius.

4. The anchoring vehicle of claim 1, wherein said wheels of said anchoring vehicle have all-terrain tires.

5. The anchoring vehicle of claim 1, wherein the anchoring vehicle comprises a power supply provided by accumulators or a power unit.

6. The anchoring vehicle of claim 1, wherein the control unit can be switched to a different control mode should said anchoring-mast need to be maneuvered to a location for docking to said airship, and wherein said anchoring vehicle is configured to be maneuvered by remote control.

7. The anchoring vehicle of claim 2, wherein the control unit is configured to be switched to an additional control mode should the vehicle follow the motion of said airship coupled to a mobile bow mooring-mast, wherein the anchoring vehicle follows a designated path via inductive guidance, instead of independently following based on wind impact on said airship.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed as an illustration only and not as a definition of the limits of the invention.

[0016] In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views:

[0017] FIG. 1 shows a side view of an airship (1) connected to a bow mooring-mast (2) and an anchoring vehicle (3).

[0018] FIG. 2 shows the rear view of an airship (1) with an anchoring vehicle (3) and its coupling position (5) as well as possible dangerous wind impact directions, horizontal (Wh) and vertical (Wv).

[0019] FIG. 3 shows a complete anchoring vehicle (3) according to the invention in the embodiment with sensors (10) in the suspension cables (9) for the anchoring-mast (7), which is mounted with a ball and socket joint (8).

[0020] FIG. 4 shows a schematic of the alternative embodiment of the anchoring vehicle (3) with the sensors (20) integrated in the coupling (6) and the anchoring-mast (7) is rigidly mounted to the vehicle.

[0021] FIG. 5a shows a top view schematic illustration of the horizontal force measuring system with 3 sensors (10) in the suspension cables (9) for the anchoring-mast (7) according to FIG. 3.

[0022] FIG. 5b shows a top view schematic illustration of an alternative embodiment of the horizontal force measuring system with 2 sensors (20) integrated in the coupling (6) according to FIG. 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0023] According to the invention the proposed anchoring vehicle (3) has a vertical anchoring-mast (7), preferably connected at the tail (4) of the airship (1), for example with a standard electromagnetic coupling (6) or mechanically driven holding brackets. The coupling location (5) is near the height of airship's middle axis. The anchoring-mast (7) is height adjustable, has a spring device (12) and a damping device (not shown). It is mounted to the vehicle's chassis with a ball and socket joint or universal joints (8) for flexibility and is held in position with a minimum of three suspension cables (9).

[0024] The anchoring vehicle is equipped with a minimum of three steerable wheels (14) with a positive steering roll radius (15) and preferably has all-terrain tires. Wheel drive is carried out with an appropriate wheel gear mechanism (16) and the aid of a servomotor (17) each. Wheel steering is also carried out with the aid of a servomotor (18) and an intermediate gear mechanism (19). Control of direction and velocity drive is carried out by a control unit (not shown), which processes the force measurements of the sensors (10).

[0025] The anchoring vehicle (3) has its own power supply provided by accumulators or a power unit. If necessary, additional weight can be loaded to avoid potential lifting of the vehicle caused by vertical wind forces.

[0026] As soon as the airship (1) is coupled to the anchoring-mast (7) the tail of the airship is only capable of slight movement in the event of vertical wind gusts (Wv) due to the tolerations of spring and damping devices.

[0027] In the case of horizontal winds (Wh) the control unit captures direction and force of the lateral deflection of the anchoring-mast (7) at the coupling (5) from the force sensors (10) in the suspension cables (9) and begins to readjust the neutral position of the anchoring-mast. This occurs by driving or steering the wheels (14) of the anchoring vehicle in the target direction. This enables the vehicle to follow the airship's movement into the prevailing wind with nearly no time delay. During minor movement on unpaved ground the positive steering roll radius (15) prevents a wheel (14) from digging into the ground, which would be the case if the steering roll radius was zero.

[0028] A further alternative embodiment of the sensor system as described above in the suspension cables (9), is the arrangement of preferably two tension/pressure sensors (20) with unequal operating direction integrated in the coupling (6), whereas the anchoring-mast (7) is rigidly mounted to the vehicle.

[0029] Other than force sensors, distance gauging sensors could also be used to measure deflection of the airship relative to the anchoring vehicle.

[0030] Advantageously, direction and strength of wind forces measured by the sensors are also transferred to the cockpit of the airship (1).

[0031] To enable universal utilization of the anchoring vehicle (3) it is further proposed that it can also be switched to a different control mode, for example for the purpose of maneuvering the anchoring vehicle (3) to the appropriate location for docking the anchoring-mast (7) to the airship. For this purpose a manually operated remote control system can be used for steering and speed.

[0032] An additional control mode is proposed for the case that the anchoring vehicle (3) must follow movement of the airship (1) whilst coupled to a mobile bow mooring-mast (2), for example a predefined path for entering or exiting the hangar. Systems used could be preferably inductive guidance but also optical or magnetic guidance. Further possibilities are laser navigation or a GPS system. In this control mode only independent direction guidance is deactivated, not independent following speed.

[0033] The advantages of the invention consist in particular that in lieu of the embodiment of the anchoring vehicle damage to the airship can be avoided. Particularly because the anchoring does not allow vertical gusts of wind to initiate vertical tail movement of the airship, whereas, with nearly no resistance, the airship is capable of pivoting horizontally to the prevailing wind without a tilting moment.

[0034] Due to the sensors the pilot can receive signals in the cockpit in the event of strong cross winds when the maximum permissible stress of the anchoring vehicle is attained and thus enabling him to carry out security measurements for the boarding/unboarding of passengers in due time.

[0035] A universal utilization of the anchoring vehicle is provided by the possibility to switch to different control modes, for example with a manually operated remote control system to maneuver the anchoring vehicle to the docking location. Or for example using inductive guidance for the anchoring vehicle's independent following of a mobile bow mooring-mast and maneuvering the airship to the airfield or for entering and exiting the hangar at low-risk under adverse wind conditions.

[0036] The automatic sensor controlled anchoring vehicle mast according to the invention can reduce security staff. Also, no further costly structural provisions are required to adapt to various airship sizes such as rail tracks on the airfield.

[0037] Accordingly, while only a few embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it is obvious that many changes and modifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

REFERENCE NUMERAL LIST

[0038] 1 Airship [0039] 2 Bow mooring-mast [0040] 3 Anchoring vehicle [0041] 4 Tail [0042] 5 Coupling location [0043] 6 Coupling [0044] 7 Anchoring-mast [0045] 8 Ball and socket joint [0046] 9 Suspension cable [0047] 10 Force sensor in suspension cable [0048] 11 Turnbuckle [0049] 12 Spring device [0050] 13 Vehicle [0051] 14 Wheel [0052] 15 Steering roll radius [0053] 16 Wheel gear mechanism [0054] 17 Servomotor wheel drive [0055] 18 Servomotor steering drive [0056] 19 Steering gear [0057] 20 Sensors in coupling