h a l f b a k e r ySugar and spice and unfettered insensibility.
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3 or 4 mile long tube made of nylon other very light material leading to the balloon. Hot air from a source on the ground inflates the hot air balloon to hights not limited by the length of the feed tube which is in itself a lighter than air floating structure due to being filled with heated air.
This
has to be patentable, somebody would have done this if it had been thought of.
Alternately you could even put some measure of flammable gas in the heated feed tube to ignite when it gets the the balloon at the top to make up for cooling at those heights. Might even have little mini furnaces every few thousand feet or so that it burns just a bit of the enriched hot air/fuel mixture as it rises.
Sometimes it's fun to just be creative.
https://www.youtube...watch?v=9C_HReR_McQ
[doctorremulac3, Feb 04 2024]
What the 6 story tall flailing man replacement would look like.
https://www.pintere...314618723947944713/
[doctorremulac3, Feb 04 2024]
Not as cool looking as a hot air tube sock or Mr.Stay Puft
https://atlas-lta.com/tethered-aerostats/
but widely known to exist (top hit for google tethered aerostats for comminications) [a1, Feb 04 2024]
Winds aloft
https://aviationweather.gov/gfa/#winds
USA aviation weather map. I'll leave folks in other parts of the world to find their own. [a1, Feb 04 2024]
Helium replacement needs to be explored
https://pubs.aip.or...ain-in-short-supply
[doctorremulac3, Feb 04 2024]
About that helium shortage....
https://hackaday.co...ld-helium-shortage/
A matter of economics [a1, Feb 06 2024]
[link]
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What is the section and diameter of this duct? How is it unfurled or assembled for use (and stowed when not in use)? |
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Don’t know about the size. Probably keep it in my garage. |
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Adding a jet exhaust to the bottom of the balloon to add some lifAksi making a scaled down version, maybe a few stories tall to compete with those car deal flailing men. Add some arms and a head too. Ten story flailing man. |
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// Don’t know about the size. Probably keep it in my garage. // |
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Okay, let's say roughly a foot in diameter? And it feeds a balloon 3+ miles up? So... close to 50000 square feet of nylon or some very lightweight material rolled up in your garage. |
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Maybe a better question is how big is your garage? |
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Once we determine that, let's discuss material spec, insulating qualities, and heat loss in that long sock from ground to altitude. Your heaters along the way and at the base of the balloon itself will help, but you need to fuel them. |
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And find space for them in the garage, too. |
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What advantage is there over a hot air balloon that carries its own heating apparatus? |
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//miles long// If it were thousands of miles long you could use it as a space elevator. |
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// What advantage is there over a hot air balloon // |
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Does a half baked idea need an advantage over a fully baked one? |
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No, but there's usually some reason for generating any idea. ie it which be just for decorative/spectacle reasons if they were all brightly coloured tubes - like beanstalks...... |
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//What advantage is there over a hot air balloon that carries its own heating apparatus?// |
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This can stay up 24/7/365 to be used as a communication tower or observation post for instance without having to be taken down to be refuled. The fuel doesn't need to be compressed gas, could be something easy found in undeveloped countries, could even use wood. |
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Or they could be decorative like beanstalks. You could put a thousand of these up for an art exhibit for instance. They'd sway in the wind like a field of wheat. Sometimes it's just fun to be creative. (link) |
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But I gotta ask, how many millions of those 2 or 3 stories flailing men have been sold? Nobody's thought of just making versions of them that are 3 times as tall and just using hot air? They'd be shaped like this: (link) |
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I find that really hard to believe. And the mile high temporary communications tower thing could really find utility in the real world. |
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// And the mile high temporary communications tower thing could really find utility in the real world. // |
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You say that as if you think nobody has done it. Though not lifted with hot air tube socks, tethered aerostats for communications have been around for a long time. |
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How strong is the jet stream at that high altitude? |
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// How strong is the jet stream at that high altitude // |
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3 to 4 miles up as [doc] originally suggested? The "jet stream" doesn't become a concern until around 30000 feet. Give me a moment to hit an aviation website to see what winds aloft are today for a few sample latitudes at 3-4 miles though... |
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(answer - anywhere from calm to really windy, depending on where you look). |
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My idea also doesn't need expensive helium which would obviously not be applicable to things like 6 story talk flailing man displays. |
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Only 6 storeys tall? What happened to the 3-4 mile high thing? |
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Talking about various different proposed uses doesn't preclude previous suggestions. |
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And the HB is about interesting ideas. Just seeing how high you could make one of these things because it would be interesting is reason enough. |
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Fair. Even so, a tethered aerostat going 3-4 miles up will present different engineering challenges than a scaled up tube man a few hundred feet tall. |
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But don't worry about the helium supply. When everone has a Farnsworth Fusor in their garage (right next to the miles of rolled up lightweight nylon), helium will be cheap and plentiful. |
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It’s daft enough for my approval. |
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Thank you xen. Check's in the mail. |
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