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Abstract
A hovercraft is an air-cushioned vehicle that is, it does not require wheels like other automobiles, and hence surface friction is not a factor for a hovercraft. A hovercraft can go over land as well as water without any difficulty and is majorly used in marshy areas for patrolling and defense applications. A hovercraft is also used for tourism. A hovercraft works on the principle of propulsion and is futuristic vehicle and can be used in many defense and miscellaneous applications.
PRINCIPLE OF WORKING
A Hovercraft or also called an air cushion vehicle is a vehicle that can drive on both land and water. This vehicle differs from other vehicle in that way, it needs no surface contact for traction. Obstacles such as gullies and waves can be taken very easily like it is a flat surface. The reason for this is a generated air cushion between the hovercraft itself and the ground surface. The Hovercraft lifts due to the pressure generated by the air in the chamber {formed by the bottom portion of the hull and the skirt]. We know that Pressure = Force /Area {P/A] this relation gives the pressure required for the lift of the hovercraft. So the Hovercraft lifts due to the pressure by the fan and hence floats above the ground. Air leaks from below the skirt. This loss of air is taken care by axial flow fan, which is continuously supplying air to the chamber. Flaps are provided to help uniform air leakage from the bottom of the skirt. As the craft is above the ground there is no friction between the ground and the craft, now the craft is propelled with the help of the propulsion fan. The control of direction is done by using rudder and a steering mechanism. In the hovercraft are placed two propellers both driven by a gasoline engine and one of them is used to provide lift by keeping a low-pressure air cavity under the craft full of air. As the air pressure is increased the air lifts the craft by filling the cavity. The cavity or chamber in which the air is kept is called a plenum chamber. At the point when the air pressure equals the weight of the hovercraft over the chambers surface area the hovercraft lifts and the air starts to escape around the edge of the skirt. The escaped air creates an air-lubricated layer between the hovercraft and the ground surface. This will lead to a
A constant feed of air is needed to lift the hovercraft and to compensate for the air being lost through the holes in the bottom plate.[1] The flow must also be greater than the amount of air that escapes through the holes in the bottom plate. The rate of air loss is not constant, because there is no way of ensuring that any air escapes evenly all around the hovercraft. To maintain also the lift, the engine and propeller have to be sufficiently powerful enough to provide a high air flow rate into the chamber. A cylinder is placed around the lift propeller to improve the efficiency, because it reduces the pressure loss around the propeller tube. The second propeller is driven by another motor and is placed on the back end of the hovercraft. This motor can only deliver a constant speed to the propeller in contrast to the lift propeller and is used to generate a displacement forward.
HOVERCRAFT TERMINOLOGY
AIR STRAIGHTENERS:
The stator blades which serve to form the air into a straight line thrust.
BAG SKIRT:
Older versions of hovercraft used continuous skirt which looks like an inner tube.
DRAG FLAP:
Flap under rear skirt which prevents skirts from scooping up water and increasing drag.
FAN DUCT:
The circular structure around the fan which assists its efficiency and houses the air straighteners.
HOVER HEIGHT:
The height of the hard structure above a hard surface at operating speeds.
HUMP:
When starting on water the lift air creates a saucer in the water and climbing out of it is called flying over hump.
ON CUSHION:
The position of the hovercraft when the hard structure is clear of the surface riding on its cushion of air.
SEGMENTED SKIRT:
Skirt made up of individual pockets, segments of fingers, each separately supplied with lift air.
SKIRT TIES:
Plastic ties which hold the skirt segments to the skirt tie anchor on the hull.
TRIM:
Posture of the hovercraft when flying or floating; this may be nose-up, nose-down or leaning left or right. Ideally the craft should be level or slightly nose up. The various parts are as shown in the figure 2.
SKIRT
Department of Mechanical Engineering
RUDDERS
Rudders are important for steering the craft. Besides their steering capability they have a nice effect to increase usable thrust. As the propeller of fan turns the air will Department of Mechanical Engineering
Unfortunately rudders have a less nice side effect; they also act as an elevator or push the hull down on the outside of the curve. This can be either compensated with an elevator or special rudder arrangements. A rudder setup, which compensates this negative effect and even supports leaning into the right direction, is the one shown in the figure 3 below. The upper rudder pivot point is set back behind the lower pivot point. What this does is that the rudders are just straight up if you drive straight ahead. As soon as you turn them the Department of Mechanical Engineering
Another method, which combines rudders and elevator into one unit, are inverted V rudders as shown in the drawing below. The disadvantage of this setup is that the linkage gets complicated. For a turn the rudder pairs have to turn in opposite directions. If you want to make a left turn the left rudder pair has to go up and the right pair has to go down. The same for a right turn, just into the opposite direction. To use the rudders as an Department of Mechanical Engineering
Hovercraft lift calculator Enter the required data in the following fields; use the metric or imperial boxes, not both. When done, press the "Calculate" button. The answers will appear below. Press the "Clear Input" button before starting a new calculation. Top of Form Department of Mechanical Engineering
or feet: or feet:
Enter Amount of air gap required in mm (i.e. 13): Enter max. gross weight of craft in kg:
Clear Input
pounds:
Results below are computed from the Input Data above and are to be considered approximate values only. (m) Total hover gap area Total cushion area Cushion pressure Cushion pressure Expected actual air velocity Lift air volume Estimated lift engine power Estimated fan diameter (m^2) (m^2) (N/m^2 = Pa) (mm of water @ 4degC) (m/sec) (m^3/sec) (kW) (m)
(ft) (sq. ft.) (sq. ft.) (lbs/sq. ft, PSF) (inches of water @ 60degF) (ft/sec) (CFS) (HP) (inches)
Working principle and some Design Concept of Hovercraft 7.4 BAG SKIRT:
Recently the most widely used skirt was the bag skirt, which is like a giant inner tube fitted around the crafts perimeter. Additional pressure is needed to inflate. The bag against air pressure under the craft in the cushion.
BAGS
The bag is popular as its manufacture uses the least amount of material compared to other skirts types. There is usually little or no wastage. In the US this is still the most common skirt found on home built machines. Fabrics for bags are usually the same as for jupes, which is 5.21N/m2. Neoprene coated nylon. The nylon-base fabric is usually about 2.33N/m2. Bags are of two types, flow through and non- flow through. Drape the material over the corner and mark the shape of the joint. Allow a 0.0254m glue seam. Seams should always lay in the direction of travel as much as possible. Now it is very important that the relative position and shape of each corner with respect to each other corners be obtained before cutting the final skirt panels. Making skirt is an art. The simpler the craft shape the easier fitting the bag becomes. Coat the thread with epoxy or urethane to prevent fraying. Bags can be fitted to the curved Hulls and other odd shapes but with more difficulties. The draw back of this approach is that no two skirts will be alike and each hovercraft could have different characteristics depending on the quality and actual shape of the skirt. Bags assume different cross section shapes depending upon the attachment points; the pressure ratio between the bag and the cushion, as well as the local skirt height. Creases in the bag will cause drag, wear and uncomfortable operating characteristics.
ENGINES:
The lack of engines specially developed for hovercraft use has been, and continues to be , a serious impediment to the production of low cost, reliable, high performance hovercraft. Some types of engines are most suitable than others, but all have been adapted and thus all types have problems when used in hovercrafts.
FAN
The requirements of the fan are that it must provide the required volume of air at the required pressure.
PRESSURE REQUIREMENT
The definition of pressure is the force exerted per unit area. Cushion pressure = Total weight of the craft / area of the cushion. As the cushion pressure is selected to offset the craft and thereby provide lift, [3] any change in craft weight or pay load, will require a change in cushion pressure. Any change in hover gap will result in variation of the air volume required to maintain the cushion. In practice, this variation occurs in the change in surfaces over which the craft travels. As a consequence, it is necessary for the fan selected to supply sufficient pressure and volume in different conditions specified. Here, Department of Mechanical Engineering
We know that when the air leaves the system all the static pressure is converted into velocity pressure. Therefore total pressure as only one component viz.., velocity pressure. We know velocity pressure = V2 Where, = density of air V= velocity of air
Flow rate, Qnom = V * A Qnom = (2 * Pc / )* h* CPc * Dc. The discharge coefficient Dc depends on the angle formed between the skirt and the ground and is found from Von Mises equation. Dc= 0.5 + (0.4 * 10^-3) * s + (0.109 * 10^-4) * s2 - (0.494 * 10^-7) * s3 + (0.345*10^-9)* s4. For 45 degree skirt angle the Dc=0.537. Design factor to account for non-ideal surface conditions (Ks). Typical design factors Ice = 1. Hard mud = 1.2. Very short or wet grass = 1.3. Sand or 4" grass (pliable) = 1.4. Short course grass = 1.5. Department of Mechanical Engineering
All advanced Hovercrafts are fully amphibious and create virtually no under water noise, just atmospheric noise levels which would typical of truck or bus. The fact that there are o underwater protrusions eliminates the usual thrashing noise signature associated with conventional propeller driven craft, as well as negating any possible sea bed erosion when operating in shallow waters. It therefore becomes obvious that fish and other marine life are in no way affected. This has been confirmed by independent scientific tests. The major noise factor with any hovercraft is the air propeller noise, which in case is largely directional in characteristic and more apparent to above surface creatures like humans. To minimize this effect advanced Department of Mechanical Engineering
Another important factor is that, by necessity, the hovercraft hull is sealed unit. Any accidental discharges and leaks are fully contained within the hull structure, remaining there to be pumped out an appropriate shore facility. There is no exhaust discharge into the water as with most conventional water craft, thus eliminating the pollution of the marine environment by oil and fuel particles, particularly prevalent with two stroke outboard motor usage. These engines operate at a mixing range of 1:50=1part oil:50 parts gasoline where the unburned oil and fuel particles get discharged over the lower unit of engine-basically oil injecting the environment you navigate in. Atmospheric pollution is also considerably is less because of the inherent fuel efficiency of the modern four stroke machinery utilized, as opposed to very large percentage of marine propulsion units which still utilize the stroke principle. In addition, the hovercraft is in itself a fuel efficient mode of transport, thus lessening the pollution of the atmosphere even more. For example a fully loaded six-person hovercraft burns less fuel per hour then a typical Jet Ski; it does not pollute the water and does not disturb the bottom in shallow areas which many fish rely upon for food and breeding. The lower hull of a anti fouling coating like on all common boat hulls. These anti fouling paints have just one purpose-slowly come off your hull with whatever marine lives adhere to it. On an average of 30 boat hull you have to apply all two years a new bottom coat-besides the expenses of haul out-you will apply between 0.00373m3 -0.00568m3 of bottom paint to your hull. Bottom paint which tries to have a very high copper contend to work effectively (30 to 75%). Copper is just not the best stuff for our marine environment, but we do our best to supply on a continuous basis till we find a better solutionwhen? If the last fish is dead? The wake created by the passage of the hovercraft is minimal, ensuring that river bank erosion and damage to foreshore by the waves created is virtually nil. A study in the United Kingdom concluded the passage of hovercraft over inter tidal areas caused no Department of Mechanical Engineering
APPLICATIONS OF HOVERCRAFTS
Due to their characteristics hovercrafts have a big variety of applications, some of which are listed below. Passenger transport and tourism related excursions. Commercial freight transportation. Exploration Search and rescue Patrol and security Amphibious Fast attack Mine counter measures Policing and Customs. Logistics Medical Evacuation Crash Rescue Hydrographic survey Commando Missions Range patrol
CONCLUSION
A hovercraft being an expensive piece of equipment is useful in many applications like tourism, commercial transportation over land and water, exploration of marshy areas, patrol and security of marshy areas and border security in deserts, amphibious assaults, immediate military attacks, carrying out counter measures for mining areas, policing and custom applications, medical evacuations can be carried out by a hovercraft, crash rescues, hydrographic surveys, commando missions and range patrols can also be done by a hovercraft. Through the capital cost and maintenance cost of the hovercraft is very high. It is useful in many applications and can be useful in many more futuristic applications due to ease of control.
References
Websites http://4wings.com.phtemp.com/index.html http://rchovercraft.com/index.html http://www.geocities.com/ronaldb66/index.html