From Propulsion City To Multiverse

Jiangdong Prefecture, Ningbo County, Zhoushan Prefecture.

Originally, Zhoushan was a subordinate of Ningbo County, but as the core area where the Human Revolutionary League started, it also has a strong scientific research system. Zhoushan was promoted to Zhoushan Prefecture during the adjustment of the state capital at the end of last year, and became the immediate boss of Ningbo. .

Due to the small land area of ​​the Zhoushan Islands, the prefectural city has been moved to Ningbo, and some industries have been transferred to the surrounding areas of Ningbo.

For example, the factory that Zheng Sen is visiting at this time.

This is a huge factory covering an area of ​​3 million square meters, 3 kilometers long and 1 kilometer wide.

In addition to rows of factory buildings, the factory is six huge dry docks.

Li Kai, how is the progress of the first airship?

Li Kai, the technical officer of the airship factory, is a sharp-eyed young man who was originally Tang Feilin's secretary.

Governor, we are still doing the final inspection, and it is estimated that the first test flight can be carried out in two or three days.

Zheng Sen looked at the behemoth in front of him: What are the design parameters?

We adopt a semi-rigid design, a high-strength aluminum alloy skeleton, and an aramid airbag with a length of 220 meters, a height of 55 meters, and a width of 40 meters. The maximum volume of the airbag is 320,000 cubic meters, and the maximum lift is 360,000 kilograms, or 360 tons.

Zheng Sen frowned: It's not right! The lift force of hydrogen per cubic meter is 1.2 kilograms, so 360,000 cubic meters should be 384 tons.

Li Kai explained with a smile: Governor, our airbags are not entirely filled with hydrogen, but also 20,000 cubic meters of nitrogen.

Hearing this answer, Zheng Sen immediately reacted: The design of the inner and outer airbags?

Yes. Li Kai nodded: We wrapped two nitrogen airbags on the outer layer, which can be used for explosion and fire protection, and the inner airbag is 60 hydrogen airbags. In addition, we also applied antistatic coating inside the airbags. The airship is also designed with a lightning protection device.

The airship technology of the Human Revolutionary League is actually very mature. Now that he knows some problems in the early stage of the airship, Tang Feilin, as the project commander, will naturally not follow the mistakes of the original airship.

For example, the hot gas technology with a big brain hole can only be used on helium airships. If it is used on hydrogen airships, unless you want to ascend to the sky in situ.

The airship project started very early,

Tang Feilin and Long Sha discussed this project after the Human Revolutionary League took control of Jiangdong Prefecture.

It's just that the airbags of the original airship were made of cattle and sheep casings, and they were used for reconnaissance, and they were barely usable.

However, in order to increase the lift of the airship to more than 10 tons, a lot of airbags are needed, and a rigid or semi-rigid design must be implemented. The problem is that the strength of the wooden structure is not enough, and the weight of the steel structure is too large.

This requires the support of man-made fiber technology and high-strength aluminum alloy technology.

Man-made fibers need petrochemical or coal chemical industry; aluminum alloy needs electrolytic aluminum industry, and electrolytic aluminum industry needs powerful power plants.

Previously, Tang Feilin built six small hydropower stations in Guangnan Prefecture and Lingnan Prefecture, and then opened an electrolytic aluminum plant nearby, which can currently produce about 1,500 to 2,000 tons of aluminum per year.

The coal company in Keelung, also under the auspices of Longsha, built a coal tar chemical plant, which can initially refine some gasoline and synthesize some types of plastics.

This promotes the development of airship technology. With the high-strength aluminum alloy frame, aramid airbags, and hydrogen manufacturing technology, the airship is ready to come out.

Li Kai continued:

We are powered by two steam generators, fueled by a mixture of gasoline and hydrogen.

Zheng Sen looked through their design plan and found that this plan is really good.

Although there is no internal combustion engine, the airship technology of later generations used steam engines in its infancy.

Moreover, the steam engine technology of the Human Revolutionary League has been developed to a relatively high level. For example, the steam generator used in the airship is actually a steam turbine, and the thermal efficiency can reach about 20%.

Since it is not a supercritical steam turbine, the technology is relatively simple, and a large amount of alloy steel and aluminum alloy materials are used. The weight of a single unit is about 13.4 tons.

The reason why a steam generator is used instead of a direct mechanical drive of a steam engine is that the transmission part will directly add dead weight.

Electric motors can use wires, but steam engines can only use gearboxes, drive shafts and gears.

So Tang Feilin chose the steam-electric solution.

As for the fuel used, gasoline is used because the unit calorific value of gasoline is high, so it is convenient to use fuel tanks for storage.

Hydrogen is waste utilization, because as the airship takes off, the weight of the fuel on it will gradually decrease. In order to prevent the airship from flying too high and maintain a certain altitude, a part of the hydrogen in the airbag must be released to offset this part extra lift.

Since hydrogen is going to be released, why not burn it?

It is necessary to know that the heat generated by combustion of 1 cubic meter of hydrogen is equivalent to 0.27 kilograms of gasoline.

The airship designed by Tang Feilin and others has about 12 tons of stored fuel. If all of it is burned, it means that the airship will release 10,000 cubic meters of hydrogen.

10,000 cubic meters of hydrogen is equivalent to 2.7 tons of gasoline, which can increase the range by about a quarter.

Moreover, there is a certain degree of danger in directly releasing hydrogen gas. After all, this thing is a flammable and explosive gas. After mixing with the surrounding air, if there is any frictional electricity or static electricity, it will turn into a big fireball in minutes.

Zheng Sen turned to the estimation of flight speed, cruising range, and payload.

The aluminum alloy skeleton, aramid airbag and airbag control system of the Kunpeng-class airship weigh 127 tons; the steam generator, electric motor, propeller, and circuit system weigh 53 tons; the fuel gasoline, gasoline storage tank, and fuel injection machine weigh 18 tons; the cabin , control system, anchoring system, auxiliary system is 46 tons.

A total of 244 tons, these weights are fixed, it is already difficult to reduce.

The total lift of the airship is 360 tons, after subtracting 244 tons, it is 116 tons of usable lift.

However, it is impossible to use all of the 116 tons of lift, because the airship needs to float in the air, which requires at least 36 tons of lift to be sacrificed.

The final usable lift is therefore 80 tons.

What can 80 tons of transport capacity do?

If it is a ship, it can only send one or two hundred troops.

But the significance of the existence of the airship lies in its deterrence and its unpredictable attack methods. Grain turnip

Dozens of tons of bombs were dropped from the sky. In an era without anti-aircraft firepower, it was a disaster.

Without aircraft and anti-aircraft firepower, there is no way to stop the invasion of airships.

Perhaps for the northwest region and the southeast coast, due to the impact of bad weather, it cannot be put into use for a long time.

However, in specific areas such as the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, Bashu Basin, Hanzhong Basin, and Zhangshung Plateau, it can exert a huge effect.

three days later.

The Kunpeng No. 1 airship, which completed the final inspection work, slowly flew away from the ground under the watchful eyes of Zheng Sen and others.

Many workers involved in the construction work stared at this behemoth intently.

so big!

It's unbelievable that we made this with our own hands.

We created a miracle.

Perhaps this is the power of man to conquer nature.

The workers began to discuss enthusiastically.

When the airship rose above 100 meters, the oppressive feeling of hiding the sky and the sun became even stronger. Looking up from the ground, it was as if seeing a mountain floating in mid-air.

Not far away in Ningbo County, many people also saw this giant floating in mid-air.

If the public security office hadn't notified in advance, it would have caused riots, but many people still couldn't help but knelt and worshiped.

The dozen or so pilots on the airship were excited and nervous at the same time.

But they did not forget the mission. When the airship flew to about 500 meters in the air, they began to adjust the flight direction and flew along the coast to Yuhang City.

The reason to choose to fly along the coastline is to ensure safety. In case of an accident, it can be parked on the beach or saline-alkali wasteland in an emergency, so as not to hurt the residents along the way.

The flight speed of the Kunpeng-class airship is divided into: economic speed 30-40 kilometers per hour; cruising speed 40-60 kilometers per hour; ultimate speed 60-80 kilometers per hour.

The maximum cruising range is 2,400 kilometers and the payload is 80 tons.

In addition, due to the steam-electric scheme, the Kunpeng class can adapt to a variety of fuels. Coal, coal tar, wood tar, charcoal, dry hay, crude gasoline, and hydrogen can all be used as fuel.

This is also one of the benefits of the steam engine solution.

After all, only Keelung in Liuqiu Prefecture, Hongji in Guangnan Prefecture, and Jiaodong Prefecture have coal mines, and the coal chemical industry is only in Keelung.

It is too difficult to supply gasoline in other places, and hydrogen supply is also a problem. A number of small hydropower stations must be built in various places, and then supporting hydrogen production plants.

The hydrogen of the airship will continue to escape, plus the hydrogen burned to offset the change of lift force, the airship must be replenished with hydrogen regularly to ensure the stability of the airship's buoyancy.

Li Kai kept in touch with the pilot of the airship through the radio station. The current test situation is very good and there are no major problems.

Since there were no major problems, Zheng Sen did not stay any longer. Before he left, he asked the airship factory to continue producing 6 Kunpeng-class airships.

In addition to Kunpeng No. 1, which is being tested, there is also Kunpeng No. 2, which has been built to 86%.

Zheng Sen estimated that the design of the Kunpeng class was relatively mature, and there was little need for modification, so he directly ordered the construction of 6 more ships.

...

Yuhang Mansion.

Song Shidao and Shang Xiuxun, who happened to be visiting nearby, had returned to Yuhang City after visiting the Tianmu Mountain Winery the day before yesterday, and were about to have lunch.

Suddenly, there were exclamations in the streets and alleys.

Then the two of them saw a black spot expanding rapidly in the midair to the south.

About ten minutes later, Kunpeng 1 quickly flew over from outside the city wall on the southeast side.

At this time, the people in the city felt the indescribable oppression of this behemoth.

It turned out to be an airship! It seems that Li Kai and the others have succeeded. Song Shidao worked with Zheng Sen for a while, so he naturally learned some secrets.

As for Shang Xiuxun, who saw the airship for the first time, she was left dumbfounded and shocked. She, like most people, stared intently at the behemoth in midair.

It wasn't until the airship adjusted its direction and flew towards Yangzhou City along the Grand Canal that everyone woke up like a dream.

Then there is the discussion of gossip.

However, the preaching officer and the staff of the public security station in Yuhang City did not let it go, but quickly posted an announcement, and at the same time, popularized science to the public on the radio.

Airships bring more than deterrence, but cohesion and pride.

As citizens of the Human Revolutionary Federation, many of them are actually uneasy, worried that the Human Revolutionary Federation will fail and the feudal forces will make a comeback.

The impact brought by the airship quickly dissipated their worries about feudal forces.

After all, this kind of behemoth that can fly in midair is not the same as a boat floating in water.

Because the Sui Dynasty had long been able to build a five-tooth ship of about 1,800 tons, the shocking power brought by the steamship of the Human Revolutionary League was not enough to worship.

But the airship is different, especially the super-giant airship of the Kunpeng class, the visual impact is too strong.

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