Design, Fabrication and Testing of Mooring Masts for Remotely Controlled Indoor and Outdoor Airships

This paper presents the design and structural details of two mooring masts, one for remotely controlled outdoor airships and another one for remotely controlled indoor airships. In a previous study, a mast for outdoor remotely controlled airship was designed to meet several user-specified operating requirements, and a simplified version of the same was fabricated. A spring loaded device was incorporated that sounds an alarm when the wind-loads exceed a threshold value, so that the airship can be taken indoors. The present study started with a critical analysis of that mast, and a new mast was designed and fabricated to remove several of its shortcomings. This mast consists of power screw operated telescopic module made of aluminium, mounted on a five legged base with castor wheels, for ease in mobility. Components of the existing mast were used to the possible extent, and the design was simplified to meet the assembly and transportation requirements. The spring mechanism used in alarming device was also modified to ensure higher sensitivity in the range of maximum expected wind-loads acting on the airship. A lightweight mooring mast for indoor remotely controlled airships was also designed and fabricated, which can accommodate non-rigid indoor airships of length up to 5 m. The mast consists of an elevating bolt operated telescopic module mounted on a tripod adapter base, with lockable castor wheels, and has a specially designed mooring-clamp at the top. The various modules and components of the mast were designed to enable quick assembly and transportation.