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Balance Issues

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Saull:
G diffusers?

redria:

--- Quote from: Thomas on February 28, 2014, 01:36:35 pm ---http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHg5SJYRHA0    <--- this thread

--- End quote ---
.....Just a little bit. ;)


--- Quote ---My throwaway answers would be some kind of ballast or mass damper system; similar to what they use in dirigibles and skyscrapers.

The ballast system works by having subdivisions in the balloon. This is often for rising/descending, but you could alter the system for horizontal balance. You vent or intake air (normal air) to increase or decrease lift power. You put a few sections of these in and have a system that automatically senses an imbalance and compensates for it by intaking/releasing air in one area. Such as a pendulum or such. Everyone hops on the left side of the ship, the pendulum swings left and activates the air intake on the right side and release on the left. Heavy air moves in on the right and out on the left and creates an imbalance; more lift on the left and less on the right, and you have a balanced airship.

The mass damper system is used in skyscrapers to prevent swaying in wind. I could see a modified version of this used for airship balance. Essentially it's just a mass (like a big ol' weight), and it moves to compensate for horizontal shifts. In skyscrapers the wind pushes them one way, and the damper pushes them the other; ideally cancelling out the sway, but more often just reducing it.
In airships, a similar system could be used to equalize the weight distribution. The crew heads to the left, the damper moves to the right. The crew moves forward, the damper moves back.

--- End quote ---
This is interesting. I could probably look it up, but I wonder when these sort of things started being used...


--- Quote from: Saull on February 28, 2014, 02:43:06 pm ---G diffusers?

--- End quote ---
Seems a little too high-tech for steam punk. But I like the way you think.

I mentioned gyroscopes because they are relatively simple, and they can used for stabilization purposes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_stability#Gyroscopic_internal_stabilizers
They have been used to keep ships stable, along with all of the small scale uses like steady cameras and making level pool tables on boats.
I feel like it would be pretty steampunk for there to be a giant spinning gyroscope hidden away in the bowels of each ship, spinning wildly away. Also, hidden across everyones' outfits could be small gyroscopes that help stabilize the person. This would help with the sudden accelerations, though maybe not quite for the ramming situations.

Chmielewski:
Ah, brilliant thread.
I'm sure that there's a ballast system in the balloon... or somewhere else.

Squidslinger Gilder:
Insert argument against realism in GOIO PVP thread here...

Tropo:
this is the stupid post i have seen im sure you are all taking the piss

but i think its all ballast related whether that be water or a heavy gas im not use but water would be perfect because it is self leveling and always weights the same :)

just think of shipping vessels or even a keel principal, air spoils, wings and sails

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