Google has patented methods to control the height of balloons.

The search giant has received several patents describing methods for controlling the height of balloons. The patents will be applied in a well-known Google project called Project Loon, which is a grouping of balloons moving in the stratosphere at an altitude of 20 km. They will be used to provide LTE coverage in inaccessible areas.

Patents describe the long-known principle of controlling the height of a balloon - an increase in the volume of gas in the shell of a balloon leads to an increase in height and vice versa. Only now everything will happen offline without the direct participation of man and with the help of solar energy generators.

The schematic diagram is as follows:
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High pressure tanks (342) for hydrogen storage and a solar energy generator (327) are installed in the ball gondola. When the ball software decides that its height should be reduced, gas from the envelope is pumped into the storage tank. The ball drops below. The reverse process leads to an increase in its height.

The autonomy in the production of hydrogen by a ball is provided by a special fuel cell (344), in which a chemical reaction produces hydrogen. If necessary, it is pumped into the shell of the ball, and the reverse reaction - the interaction of hydrogen with oxygen - will lead to the formation of a certain amount of water. As a result, the ball will become heavier and its height will also change.

An even simpler way to change the height of the ball is that its shell is painted in different colors that reflect solar radiation in different ways. If the need arises to increase the height of the ball, the software determines the position of the sun and turns the shell towards it with the dark side. The sun's rays are absorbed, which leads to a change in gas temperature and an increase in its height.

At the end of last year, a team of engineers at Project Loon described the results of their work. One of the main problems - the lifetime of the ball in the aggressive environment of the upper layers of the atmosphere - was solved successfully. Now the ball codenamed "Marathon" turned out to be a "long-liver". He was able to stay in the air for 134 days, starting in New Zealand and landing in Chile. Satisfactory results were also noted for other indicators: the speed of the ball and the time it was exposed to a low temperature.