Conan: The Mechanic

When everyone who boarded the airship got the instructions for the airship, Chiba understood why the airship could be used for high-altitude navigation—the airship did have the ability to easily enter the stratosphere.

The density of helium is 0.1786 grams per liter, while the density of air is 1.293 grams per liter. At an altitude of 14,000 meters, the air pressure is about 14,000 Pascals, and the density of air is less than one-seventh of that of ground air, which is almost the same as the density of helium. That is to say, if it is a normal rigid airship with a conventional design of about 5,000 meters, it can only be raised to a height of about 14,000 kilometers through Archimedes' principle, and it can no longer be raised. And considering that it is impossible for the airbag to fill every part of the airship, and it also needs to maintain a large amount of residual buoyancy to support the non-airbag area, it is very rare for this kind of airship to reach the bottom of the stratosphere at about 12,000 meters in the extreme floating air. .

But this super airship named Pearl Tree adopts a quite interesting design - its essence is that the keel is hoisted by the airbag, and the keel is hoisted to the soft airship of the airship living area, but an unusually large hard frame is installed outside, The soft and fragile airbag inside is protected by a layer of skin covering it.

This design has two advantages.

The first is in terms of load: if you compare, the airship has these parts - the service function area where the passengers are infested; the airbags for the helium gas; the power maintenance area for the power protection; those passengers do not appear , infrequently used areas that may need to be visited only during maintenance. A rigid airship is filled with 1 atmosphere of air in all these areas, while the very useful area of ​​a pearl tree blimp is not filled with standard air, only a thin atmosphere similar to the surrounding environment. Airbags equivalent to pearl tree airships do not need to hold up the air in the most used areas like a rigid airship.

The second point is in terms of providing buoyancy (in fact, this is the most important aspect): rigid airships are limited by volume and shape fixation, so that the expansion of the airbag itself is limited to a certain range, and the airbag of the pearl tree airship is due to Fully housed in a ventilated exterior environment, it can expand to a considerable extent with the surrounding air. With just a little bit of physics, it turns out that this design allows the balloon to expand freely at fairly high altitudes and continues to provide as much buoyancy as it would otherwise only be available at low altitudes. (Author: Helium with mass 4a displaces air with mass 29a forever and produces buoyancy of 25a with unrestricted volume.)

And now, they are visiting this interesting design in the company of Jiro Suzuki and the housekeeper.

"Won't the airbag be destroyed like this?" Chiba asked the accompanying staff in the elevator that kept going up. "Could it be that some protection was added outside?"

"We have set up a cross air intake slot at the air inlet of the airship. If any visible flying object hits inward from the air inlet above the cross, it will only hit the foreign object storage slot below and be destroyed within a few minutes. Throw it directly out of the airship; only the air will be sent into the airship from the real air inlet grooves on the left and right sides of the cross. Of course, in addition to this cross air inlet groove, there are many subsequent filter devices, which can effectively ensure the air bag structural safety.

"Is this huge skeleton structure also reserved for the expansion of this airbag?" Conan asked, looking at the interior space of the airship that was still empty after a large number of airbags were placed.

"Yes," the staff member nodded. "This skeleton reserves about 15 times the expansion space for these airbags, allowing the airbags to fully deploy, which also allows the airship to reach an unprecedented maximum practical cruising altitude of 14,000 meters - if the power system can be further improved to overcome the thin air If there is a problem, the theoretical ceiling can even reach more than 18,000 meters after further modification in the future.”

"246 meters long and 42.178 meters wide, both length and width are exactly one meter more than the famous Hindenburg. The 'Pearl Tree' is the largest airship in the world in any sense!" in After the staff explained, Jiro Suzuki said proudly.

"What is the speed of this airship?" Qianyu suddenly remembered something and asked.

If Chiba's observations and inferences are correct, the open structure of the Pearltree means that the thin atmosphere will be enclosed by the shell of the Pearltree, which will increase the flight burden of the Pearltree in the eyes of the Pearltree. Mobility has a considerable impact.

"Uh..." The staff fell into a rare hesitation, and was about to say something, but was interrupted by Jiroji Suzuki.

"Speed ​​is really not Pearl Tree's strong point," Suzuki Jiroji said calmly. "After all, the airship itself is based on the flying height as a selling point, for which we sacrificed a lot of speed - but the cruising speed of 115 kilometers per hour is enough to meet the basic needs~www.readwn.com~ As a comparison data, The Hindenburg completed a round trip from Frankfurt, Germany to Lakehurst, USA, 6,250 kilometers away, in less than 99 hours in July 1936, with an average speed of more than 126 kilometers per hour. Pearl trees for high altitude The open layout is chosen for performance, and the speed penalty is the price that must be paid.)

At this moment, the elevator has risen to the top. As the elevator door opened, a gorgeous hall appeared in front of everyone. And the most conspicuous is a huge astronomical telescope.

"I have to admit that the designer put a lot of thought into this hall, but it's all worth it." Suzuki Jiroji said proudly, leading everyone out of the elevator. "After all, astronomical observations on the ground can't be as effective here anyway."

"Is it such a big telescope..." Chiyu's face immediately showed a look of surprise - such a telescope is at least 10 tons, which is quite a burden for an airship similar in size to the Hindenburg. . "

(The lift of the Hindenburg is 232 tons, while its dead weight is 220 tons, and its free buoyancy is only 12 tons.)

"Yes, this is a 16-ton big guy," the staff nodded. "When I made the design drawings, I designed it for a long time to ensure that this big guy would not destroy the stability of the entire airship!"

"Are you the designer of this airship?" Mao Lilan asked after realizing it.

"He's the chief designer," Suzuki Jiroji glanced at the staff and said with a smile. "Because this is the first time it is put into practice, he has to stay on the airship, so that he can quickly make up the loopholes if there is a problem. After the big guy flies a few times, he can enjoy a very comfortable vacation. already."