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CAMERON GB1000 HYDROGEN BALLOONNo-one should ever build a gas balloon in the traditional way again!

The Cameron Gas Balloon made its first flight on 17th September 2010 and then

flew in the 2010 Gordon Bennett Race a few days later. It landed after 81h

40min for weather reasons, but with enough ballast remaining to fly another

night. The design sets new standards for safety and performance.

GB1000 SafetyThe balloon is a totally sealed system, so that the hydrogen remains pure and does not come into

contact with air at any time during the flight. By preventing gas and air mixing, combustion is prevented,

even if a spark should occur. The GB1000, like all hydrogen balloons today,

is constructed from conductive fabric to prevent the occurrence of sparks

and care must be taken that all ropes, webbings and accessories are also

conductive.

A completely sealed balloon must have provision for pressure release and this

is achieved by the servo system. When the balloon is full, instead of allowing an

overflow of gas through a fabric appendix tube at the base, the servo pulls on the

valve line allowing hydrogen to exit at the top. The metal gas valve has a chimney

extension where ignition, should it occur, would not be a problem. This is the only

place where gas and air can mix

When the balloon is below its ceiling, the servo fabric rises, taking the load off the valve

line and ensuring that the valve is closed. The valve control line passes through the servo

and down to the basket where the pilot can operate the valve manually at any time.

Final deflation is achieved by a fabric “chimney” type deflation port. At this time hydrogen

will come into contact with air, but this will only be on the ground. Danger is minimised by

the use of anti-static materials.

...it’s really a wonderful balloon, there areso many advantages, first of all its very simple

and convenient for preparation & inflation.

“

”Sergey Grishin, Russia

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GB1000 Performance

Price

Hydrogen - Technical Facts

Lift of gases at 15°C and 1013.25 millibar in kg/m³

HYDROGEN 1.140 KG/M³

HELIUM 1.056 KG/M³

AMMONIA 0.495 KG/M³

METHANE 0.546 KG/M³

13.2m

19.4m

Hydrogen-air mixtures can ignite with very low

energy input, 1/10th of that required to ignite a

gasoline-air mixture. An invisible spark or a static spark

from rubbing fabric can cause ignition. Hydrogen is also

flammable over a greater range of concentration in air

than most gases.

The GB1000 envelope, complete with gas valve - £38,550 or €48,190

sales@cameronballoons.co.uk www.cameronballoons.co.uk

Cameron Balloons Ltd., St. John Street, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 4NH, UK

Tel: +44 (0)117 9637216. Fax: +44 (0)117 9661168

Prevention of mixing improves performance. If air is allowed to mix with the gas, some

will remain in the balloon when it vents at the ceiling. This makes the old design of

balloon perform as if it had a smaller volume, because the air content has no lift. The

excellent duration obtained by the GB1000 in the Gordon Bennett race confirmed this

effect. For this reason, the same design should be used with helium.

The GB1000 maintains altitude very precisely- for 2½ hours I didn’t waste a single scoop of ballast.

“ ”

When cloud overshadowed the sun, I decided to see thedynamics of acceleration in descent. The first 10 - 15 mins the

balloon descent was only -0.5 m/s to -1.8 m/s. It waseasy to stop and in my opinion these are outstanding figures.

(August 2014)

The balloon is built in a brilliant white fabric to reduce solar gain and night cooling.

The conductive suspension webbings continue to the top of the balloon

where they are fixed to a metal crown ring which is integral with

the gas valve. That gives a very strong structure.

“

”