Layout design of a central axis ventilated solar concentrated airship
To meet the technical challenges including over-weighted battery system and over-temperature/overpressure on the envelope caused by photovoltaic batteries on top in conventional energy layout airships,a concept of solar concentrated photovoltaic airships with axial vent is designed and assessed.A combination of wavy linear Fresnel lenses and composite parabolic concentrator(CPC),shows a solar concentration efficiency as high as 57.3%under single axis tracking of the sun.Meanwhile,the over-temperature challenge could be effectively avoided by the injection flow in the axial vent of airship.Based on the current development of photovoltaic technology and energy storage technology,a solar concentrating photovoltaic airship with axial vent and hydrogen fuel cell as energy storage unit is proposed.In the term of overall power generation efficiency,new concentrated solar photovoltaic airship results an equivalent power generation efficiency of 19%,which is 33%higher than the traditional thinfilm crystalline silicon battery system.The size,weight and price of the concentrated photovoltaic airship system with the same load is significantly lower than the conventional photovoltaic scheme.The general concept of concentrated photovoltaic airships with axial vent could provide a useful reference for the overall design of the near space airships.