US 11,591,060 B2Granted

Tethered aerial system and tether cable

AssigneeAltave Industria, Comercio Exportacao De Aeronaves S.A.

InventorsBruno Avena de Azevedo, Ismael Jorge Costa Neto, Gilson Vicente Soares Júnior, Arthur Silva Costa Ferreira

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Abstract

A tethered aerial system includes an on-board fuel cell for powering on-board electronics and a tether cable which is less conductive than air. The tether cable includes a pipe for carrying a flow of gas to the fuel cell and/or maintain the gas level in a lighter-than-air platform, so that the tethered aerial system can remain operational for an extended period of time. The system is particularly applicable for maintaining communication links in remote areas, agriculture and applications in the IoT (Internet of Things), event coverage, interactive marketing, for post-disaster situations in rural areas and at mining sites or construction sites in remote environments. The system also is immune to rays.

Claims12

Dependent claims

A tethered aerial system comprising:

an aerostat;
a payload configured to be carried by the aerostat;
an on-board electrical energy generator for powering on-board electronics and the payload, wherein the on-board electrical energy generator comprises a fuel cell configured to run on hydrogen gas;
and
a tethering cable connecting the aerostat to a hydrogen gas source on a ground, wherein the tethering cable comprises material that is electrically non-conductive and less conductive than air to prevent atmospheric discharge attraction and wherein the tethering cable includes a tube for supplying the hydrogen gas to the aerostat for inflating the aerostat and for supplying the fuel cell for the on-board electrical energy generator,
wherein maintenance of a flight is ensured by delivery of the gas by the tube contained within the tethering cable;
wherein the tethering cable has a first end that is configured to connect to the aerostat of the tethered aerial system and a second end configured to be fixed to the gas source on the ground;
and
wherein the tethering cable is configured to provide the flow of hydrogen gas through the tube for maintaining flight capacity of the aerostat and to act as a fuel feed for the fuel cell to generate electrical energy for the on-board electronics and the payload of the tethered aerial system.

6 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.