A new design and fabrication approach for pressurized balloon

Abstract

To realize a super pressure stratospheric balloon, a lot of efforts have been made for the development of extremely strong but light films. However, the balloon design capable of a heavy payload is still based on a standard natural shape. In this type of balloon, the film expansion between load tapes is limited because the center line on the original gore pattern is obviously shorter than side lines (seal lines). This paper describes a new design and fabrication concept that each gore forms three-dimensional expanded shape with a small circumferential radius without elongation of the film by pressure. This three-dimensional gore is realized by shortening the length of larger size gore to the original load tape length through practical fabrication process. As a result, the film tension is reduced drastically by the effect of the small radius caused by this structural expansion. The pressurized test was carried out using a small model balloon fabricated by this method. The successful test results are also reported.