Heavenly heavyweight

Several years ago, the Metaprocess company specialists were given a task from the field of logistics. It was necessary to deliver a 600-ton hydrocracking reactor built at the Izhora plant near St. Petersburg to the Ryazan region. 500-ton trucks and special barges were purchased, the port on the Izhorka River was deepened. Delivery to a distance of 1000 km cost $ 5 million and took 45 days. Then the engineers asked themselves the question: is it possible to deliver such a cargo by air?

It turned out that theoretically possible. However, the An-225 “Mriya”, the heaviest cargo aircraft to date, has a carrying capacity of “only” in 250 tons, and therefore we are immediately talking about airships. Firstly, theoretically there are no limits for the airship's carrying capacity: even Tsiolkovsky wrote that one cubic meter of helium can lift one kilogram of cargo, and you can increase the airship almost indefinitely. Secondly, the energy of the air giant's engines is almost not expended on maintaining lift (unlike an airplane), respectively, it is much more economical. Finally, the cargo to the airship can be hung, that is, there are no problems with the dimensions.

In 1996, the German company Cargolifter has already tried to build a super-lifting airship capable of transporting up to 160 t
cargo. The CL 160 project was shown to investors, collected a huge amount, and engineers began to build the hangar. The hangar was built and was 360 m long, 220 wide and 106 (!) High. At this, the investors' money ended and the company Cargolifter went bankrupt, and the hangar that can accommodate the Eiffel Tower is still empty in the suburb of Wiesbaden.
There is one more "but". The fact is that the delivery of super-heavy goods - drilling rigs, reactors, machine tools - is most often needed in hard-to-reach areas, for example, to Siberia or to Kamchatka, where the corresponding plants and wells are located. A dirigible can not fly without ballast. If the airship unloads the 20 T, then it should take on the 20 T something else in return. And if there is no ground (especially if it is frozen), no sand, no water? Moreover, the airship for landing requires landing.
And go plant Makhin length 250 m, for example, in the forest taiga. In the same hovering mode, the airship will be loaded, because it is afraid of a side wind: it is simply blown away.
It was then that they remembered the old Soviet project called "Thermoplane".

Project "Thermoplane"

The problem of the development of the northern regions was at the beginning of 1980-x as acutely as possible, and to solve it, a group was created at MAI, which began to work on the construction of an airship with a lifting capacity of 600 and higher. A few years later they created the Thermoplan design bureau, headed by Yuri Alekseevich Ryzhov, then the rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute. What did the Soviet engineers come up with? The thermoplane was a "flying saucer" consisting of two halves. At the top were tanks with helium, like a normal airship , and the lower one performed the function of the so-called thermal volume. It was filled with ordinary air, which was heated with the help of exhaust gases of engines. Why was such a hybrid needed? It was because he could do without the usual ballast: fl the function of the air in termoobeme.

The device of the thermoplane was simple: around the circumference there was a power torus made of fiberglass reinforced with carbon ribbons, shells were tensioned onto the torus, and the internal cavity was divided by a membrane into a thermal volume and volume with helium. A prototype of the estimated carrying capacity of 3 tons began to build the 8 of Ulyanovsk at the Ustinov Aviation Industry Complex (now Aviastar plant) in the 1989 year. The front engine was installed from the Yak-18 aircraft, and a converted fuselage from the MI-2 helicopter, which was stuffed with equipment, was hung to the car as a cabin. The thermoplane, called the ALA-40, was completed by 1992 year.

There was one problem: the Union collapsed and funding stopped. We managed to order another power torus and a set of shells, but there was no extra money to build a second device - it was necessary to test first
out In August, 1992, the Soviet UFO was taken out of the hangar and taken to the test.

In free flight, the ALA-40 has never been - it rose and fell on a leash and stood on supports. He was investigated, tested, verified, and the observers were amazed at the 40-meter giant. And then there was an incident.
At that time everything was done, of course, by hand. Even the winches were manually reinforced. By the way, the ground control console of the alleged 600 toner was designed by Myasi-Shchev Design Bureau and occupied two large rooms. So, as a result of inconsistent manipulations with the mooring winches, the ALA-40 tipped over and "sat down" on one of the side supports. A crack went across the torus, the shell broke, and the giant sank to the ground.

There was no money for restoration, but the Termoplan KB existed before 2001. Several original catamarans and a very successful 2EU ekranoplan based on the AN-2 aircraft were developed. In 2008, the Aviastar plant required new production areas, and the remains of the thermal plane were finally sent for recycling. But by this time a new chapter has already begun.

Suppose a thermoplane brings a certain weight of 100 t to the taiga. It completely painlessly hangs over the trees (due to the round shape, such an apparatus, unlike a dirigible, is not afraid of a side wind) and works like a helicopter, that is, it lowers the load on the cables.

In order to compensate for the sharp increase in lift, a volume of heated air is released from the thermal volume and cold is pumped in directly from the side. And that's all - the airship is again balanced and ready to fly further. Thus, ballasting occurs due to a change in the temperature of the thermal volume, and the thermoplane itself is a completely autonomous machine, independent of the people below. Theoretically, he can safely deliver the cargo to a bare field and unload it without any help from the ground.

A number of leading design bureaus of the Soviet Union took part in the development of the thermoplane. For example, one of the institutes was seriously developing a version of the project with a nuclear power plant (although this was more likely a tribute to the nuclear race, and not the functionality of a thermoplane). Subsequently, this branch of development was closed.

Locomoskyner can be equipped with various blocks - not only cargo. The company "Lokomoskay" developed a fire extinguishing unit, as well as a passenger. The latter has three floors, two of which are located inside the locomotive scraper, and the lower one is a circular observation platform, articulated with the pilot's cabin.

CONSTRUCTION OF 600-TONN SAMPLE will cost approximately $ 120 million. True, if you analyze the situation, a locomotion of this size will fully pay for itself in just a couple of years, and only on any one type of activity. For example, on the maintenance of the 1200-ton drilling rig or on the delivery of equipment for the reconstruction of the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP.
Locomkiner-OZ Diameter 50 m || Maximum range 500 km 11 Load capacity 3 t || Completion Year 2011

Project "Locomoskyner"

So, in 2005, Kirill Lyats, CEO of the Metaprocess group of companies, through his channels found that same Yuri Alekseevich Ryzhov, who in 1980-s managed the project "Thermoplane". It turned out that the employees of the former bureau were scattered in different places: the Ulyanovsk part of the team worked on Aviastar, those in the Tupolev Design Bureau, and the Moscow branch formed the Aerostatics Design Bureau, which developed cigar-shaped airships. Lyats and Ryzhov gathered both teams together in the Golitsynsky boarding house, brainstormed and made a decision: the super-lifting airship - to be. The new company received the name "Lo-Komoskay", and the apparatus itself - the locomotive engine. Alexander Kharchikov, the former deputy general designer of the Thermoplan, became the general designer.

Over the years, almost everything has changed over 15 - materials, equipment, level of computerization. Locomoker-scaler looks like a thermoplane externally, but in common they have only the principle of operation. For example, in a thermoplane, a cavity with helium was one and only, but a large one. The project of the same locomoscaler implies a set of helium bags (16 tanks), that is, damage to one or two will not affect the course and carrying capacity of the giant.

The principles of heating the thermal volume have undergone dramatic changes. In the original project, the exhaust gases from the engine directly entered the shell, as a result of which soot was formed and the thermoplane needed to be regularly cleaned from the inside. Moreover, the gas temperature was of the order of 700 ° C, which created a significant risk - it was possible to burn through the shell. A modern locomoskiner is equipped with engine-independent heat generators operating on the principle of a heat gun and located inside the volume. Thus, even with the failure of all engines, the heat balance will be maintained. In addition, additional heating is carried out through special heat exchangers.

Today, the company has a seven-meter locomotion, which is also a prototype of a full-fledged cargo airship and unmanned observation machine. On the small "plate" you can hang the observation system of the JCE-1 and use it for tracking purposes. But still, first of all, it serves as proof that the design is workable.

Today, Lokomoskay is launching the construction of the second Lokomoskiner-03 prototype with a 3 tonnage. Compared with the planned 600-tonnik, it is nothing more than a toy, but in reality it is a serious truck that allows delivering heavy loads to remote areas. The design documentation for the locomotive engine is fully prepared, and the management of the Ulyanovsk region has allocated areas for the production of the first sample.

The power torus of Lokomoskayne-ra-03 is metallic, it is planned to install four engines (installation of six and eight is possible, depending on the need). The shell is designed for comfortable work in the temperature range from -50 to + 50 ° C, but one point should be made here. The fact is that warm air from the inside can be supplied to almost any part of the shell and maintain its temperature at any level. Thanks to this, even the Antarctic —80 ° C will not become a problem for the locomotive scanner. The safety of the device is also higher than that of the airship. Even if all the 16 tanks with helium are consistently damaged, he will still be able to reach the comfortable landing site just in the hot air. On that he and thermoblasting.
In locomoskinera there is another major difference from the airship. Remember history about Cargolifter and their famous hangar? So, the locomo-skayner does not require a hangar at all. Inside a small room collect elements of the torus and the power unit. The final assembly is carried out in an open area, because the locomo-skyner is not afraid of the side wind. When the torus is fully assembled, the upper part of the shell is attached to it, which serves as an hangar to itself. Further work is carried out inside the locomotive unit. This reduces the cost of building such devices in comparison with the airship at least twice.

The planned range of the 3-ton is 500 km, and the 60-ton is already 3000. The most powerful locomotive skayner in the line will be able to freely transfer half of the rig from Moscow to Kamchatka, and no rivers and mountains will become an obstacle to it.

The public will show the three-ton car already at the MAKS-2011 exhibition, and the 60-tonic following it will be built by the year of the 2016. However, they can immediately take up the 600-tonic, why not? This is a question for investors. What will order - and it will be built.

Developed versions of the locomotive scraper for 120, 240, 400 and 600 tons.
Locomkiner-600 Diameter 250 m || Maximum range 5000 km 11 Load capacity 600 t || Completion Year 2016

THE CAVITY WITH HELIUM inside the locomotive scooter has a rather complex shape, and therefore practically no external influence is able to “drop” the giant to the ground. EVEN IF ANY AWESOME ALL cavities will be damaged, he will be able to get to the place of emergency landing and repair due to the inexhaustible supply of hot air.

What's next?

Next is the hope that the locomo-skayner will become not a single experimental development, but a serial ultra-high-capacity vehicle. Indeed, first of all, for us it is important because it is a Russian project. Moreover, this is not import substitution - there are no such aircraft anywhere in the world. The relevance of the project is very obvious because of the simultaneous development of this direction in several countries. Despite the negative example of the company Cargolifter, the problems of super-lifting
airships are engaged in the United States, in Japan, in Germany. Who will be the first - that and cards in hand. Indeed, the world really enough 25-30 similar devices. Consumers of locomotives can become countries with a vast territory, difficult terrain and weather conditions - China, Brazil, India, Canada.
Therefore, we can only wish Lokomoskai success and observe the developments. You look, in ten years and over Moscow such an 250-meter flying saucer made by man will float over.

EXISTING
LOCOMOSKINER with a diameter of 7 m can perform observational functions, for example for MES
ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF LOCOM SCINER
Today, Lokomokaya has enough potential customers. This is almost any company or factory engaged in the production of heavy equipment. Moreover, the construction of the first 600-toner will automatically create a new clientele. For example, today in the Far North no one builds plants in block-modular design due to the inability to deliver heavy blocks of equipment. The use of a locomoskayner will allow the plant to be installed practically from the air, in just a few tricks, and win tens of millions of dollars. In addition, locomotive scanners will save the budget from the need to build roads to the northern settlements of a temporary settlement: huge aircrafts easily deliver both people and all necessary equipment by air.