Acquisition of flight data such as drag and propeller thrust by a remote controlled solar airship

摘要

Investigations have been conducted with the solar airship Lotte in order to prove the measurement of the in-flight propeller thrust and then determine the influence on the drag due to the interaction between the stern-mounted propeller and the airship body. ^An in-flight propeller thrust sensing device was developed and integrated. ^For verifying the measurement of the propeller thrust, several tests have been conducted including the measurement of static thrust. ^The test results have shown that the propeller thrust can be measured very well. ^In order to quantify the influence on the drag due to the interaction between the stern-mounted propeller and the airship body, the drag of the airship without propulsion has been determined in deceleration tests, and the drag when the airship is propelled was measured by measuring the propeller thrust. ^This interaction was found to be strong for the solar airship. ^(Author)