CAMERON GB1000 HYDROGEN BALLOON
No-one should ever build a gas balloon in the traditional way again!
The Cameron Gas Balloon made its first flight on 17th September 2010 and then
flew in the 2010 Gordon Bennett Race a few days later. It landed after 81h
40min for weather reasons, but with enough ballast remaining to fly another
night. The design sets new standards for safety and performance.
really a wonderful balloon, there are
“so...it’s
many advantages, first of all its very simple
and convenient for preparation & inflation.
”
Sergey Grishin, Russia
GB1000 Safety
The balloon is a totally sealed system, so that the hydrogen remains pure and does not come into
contact with air at any time during the flight. By preventing gas and air mixing, combustion is prevented,
even if a spark should occur. The GB1000, like all hydrogen balloons today,
is constructed from conductive fabric to prevent the occurrence of sparks
and care must be taken that all ropes, webbings and accessories are also
conductive.
A completely sealed balloon must have provision for pressure release and this
is achieved by the servo system. When the balloon is full, instead of allowing an
overflow of gas through a fabric appendix tube at the base, the servo pulls on the
valve line allowing hydrogen to exit at the top. The metal gas valve has a chimney
extension where ignition, should it occur, would not be a problem. This is the only
place where gas and air can mix
f
When the balloon is below its ceiling, the servo fabric rises, taking the load off the valve
line and ensuring that the valve is closed. The valve control line passes through the servo
and down to the basket where the pilot can operate the valve manually at any time.
Final deflation is achieved by a fabric “chimney” type deflation port. At this time hydrogen
will come into contact with air, but this will only be on the ground. Danger is minimised by
the use of anti-static materials.
GB1000 Performance
13.2m
maintains altitude very precisely
“ The GB1000
- for 2½ hours I didn’t waste a single scoop of ballast.”
Prevention of mixing improves performance. If air is allowed to mix with the gas, some
will remain in the balloon when it vents at the ceiling. This makes the old design of
balloon perform as if it had a smaller volume, because the air content has no lift. The
excellent duration obtained by the GB1000 in the Gordon Bennett race confirmed this
effect. For this reason, the same design should be used with helium.
“
When cloud overshadowed the sun, I decided to see the
dynamics of acceleration in descent. The first 10 - 15 mins the
balloon descent was only -0.5 m/s to -1.8 m/s. It was
easy to stop and in my opinion these are outstanding figures.
”
The balloon is built in a brilliant white fabric to reduce solar gain and night cooling.
The conductive suspension webbings continue to the top of the balloon
where they are fixed to a metal crown ring which is integral with
the gas valve. That gives a very strong structure.
Price
The GB1000 envelope, complete with gas valve - £38,550 or €48,190
(August 2014)
Hydrogen - Technical Facts
Hydrogen-air mixtures can ignite with very low
energy input, 1/10th of that required to ignite a
gasoline-air mixture. An invisible spark or a static spark
from rubbing fabric can cause ignition. Hydrogen is also
flammable over a greater range of concentration in air
than most gases.
Lift of gases at 15°C and 1013.25 millibar in kg/m³
f
HYDROGEN
HELIUM
1.140 KG/M³
1.056 KG/M³
[email protected]
AMMONIA
METHANE
0.495 KG/M³
0.546 KG/M³
www.cameronballoons.co.uk
Cameron Balloons Ltd., St. John Street, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 4NH, UK
Tel: +44 (0)117 9637216. Fax: +44 (0)117 9661168
19.4m