Search

The influence of the solar cells on the thermal characteristics of a stratospheric airship is researched in this article. The mathematical models of the heat transfer of the airships and solar cells are established, including the thermal balance equations, the direct solar radiation, the diffuse radiation from sky, the reflected radiation from the Earth, the infrared radiation heat transfer between the airship skin and the sky, the infrared radiation heat transfer between the airship skin and the Earth, the heal conduction between the solar cells and airship skin, and the convective heat transfer. And then, the multi-node model is adopted to discuss the temperature variations of the stratospheric airship shin, the solar cells and the buoyancy gas. The multi-node model includes the solar cells, the airship's skin below the cells, other upper airship skin (upper airship skin except that below the cells), the down airship skin, and the buoyancy gas. By numerical simulation, the temperature variations of the solar cells, the airship skin and the buoyancy gas during station keeping are presented. The effects of the thermal resistance, the conversion efficiency and the area of the solar cells on the temperature variation of the solar cells, the airship skin and the buoyancy gas are especially analyzed. These provide a guidance reference for the design of the thermal control system of the airship skin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]