Effects of the emitters density on the performance of an atmospheric ionic thruster

Belan, M.; Terenzi, Raffaello; Trovato, Stefano; Usuelli, Davide

doi:10.1016/j.elstat.2022.103767

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The test rig, already used in a previous work [19], is depicted in Fig. 2 and its components present minor modifications in the support structures.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scaling Relations for the Geometry of Wire-to-Airfoil Atmospheric Ionic Thrusters

Kahol

Belan²,

Pacchiani

et al. 2023

SSRN Journal

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“…The test rig, already used in a previous work [19], is depicted in Fig. 2 and its components present minor modifications in the support structures.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fig. 3 gives a detailed view of the electrical components and connections, similar to the circuit used in [19]. A 0.996 MΩ ballast resistor 𝑅 𝑏 is connected in series with the thruster.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scaling Relations for the Geometry of Wire-to-Airfoil Atmospheric Ionic Thrusters

Kahol

Belan²,

Pacchiani

et al. 2023

SSRN Journal

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“…Moreover, decreasing the gap would decrease the thrust-to-power ratio and increase the mass of the final thruster, which depends on the power demand. In this regard, in the literature the range of interest of S/d for some wire-cylinder geometries lies approximately between 0.1-3.5 [19,22], while for wire-airfoil geometries is between 0.4 and 5 [13,17,20]. Optimal values which maximize thrust density can be found, however they may depend on the configuration under study: for airfoil collectors in particular, besides S/d, their chord-to-gap and thickness-to-gap ratios c/d, t/d also affect the performance, so that for different airfoils of the NACA family the optimal S/d ratios appear in a range between 0.5 and 1.5 [20,23].…”

Section: Parameter Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

“…First and foremost, the phenomenon of multiple emitters unscalability represents the main scientific limit for such thrusters. In fact, in several systems [13][14][15][16][17] it has been observed that increasing the number of the emitters does not lead to a proportional increase in the ionic wind, because an array of emitters at the same potential may create a local region of low potential gradient with detrimental effect on the emitter-collector field, and this effect can be worsened by the hydrodynamic interactions between parallel ionic wind jets. This shielding effect, mathematically described as a deviation from Peek's inception law [18], increases the inception voltage of the emitters.…”

Section: Parameter Spacementioning

confidence: 99%

Blade emitters for atmospheric ionic thrusters

Belan,

Baldo,

Kahol

et al. 2024

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.

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In the field of atmospheric ionic thrusters, the objective of this work is to evaluate the possibility of an alternative ionic emitter to the traditional thin wire emitter, in order to overcome the technical issues of the EHD technology related to the fragility of the wires and to make it more suitable to applications outside the laboratory. For the presented experiments, emitters in the form of metallic blades have been produced.These were tested while varying the geometric parameters of both the emitters themselves and of the thruster configuration. Through this measurement campaign, the electrical characteristics, as well as the feasibility and the performances of the new proposed solutions have been evaluated and compared with wire emitters. Results indicate that the blade emitters can work as alternative emitters, however the performance of the present prototypes does not reach that of wire emitters and therefore further research is needed in order to make them a valid alternative.

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“…2 ), the axially generated thrust combines the mechanism of thrust for ionic propeller–cylinder system (Fig. 1 ) to the classic linear momentum conservation in systems like pin-to-wire, wire-to-cylinder, or wire-to-airfoil systems 1 , 23 , 24 .…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toroidal counter electrode for ionic propulsion

Chirita

Ieta

2022

Sci Rep

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Significant attention has recently been given to applications of ionic wind to atmospheric propulsion. Rotational ionic engines (RIE) have also demonstrated to have potential for in-atmosphere propulsion in negative polarity. However, such devices have not yet produced enough thrust for a rotary ionic drone to be developed. We demonstrate here that a toroidal counter electrode can increase the RIE's performance by up to 7.8 times greater than in previous configurations (upper limit not determined). The RIE is designed with pin emitters extended on the trailing edge of a 12.6 cm two-blade plastic propeller placed above a toroidal counter-electrode which provided axial thrust up to 288.55 m Nat 23.15 N/m2, 4.2 m/s bulk airflow speed within the propeller plane, and 251 m3/h flow rate. The new design generates axial thrust due to the linear acceleration of ions between electrodes, and also due to the induced rotary motion of the propeller which captures the energy and momentum of ions accelerated in the propeller rotational plane. Thrust to power ratio can be measured by the ratio of voltage to current or propeller kinetic energy to power. A 4-RIE array matched the thrust (1 N) of a four-blade drone with similar blade size.

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Effects of the emitters density on the performance of an atmospheric ionic thruster

Cited by 12 publications

References 15 publications

Scaling Relations for the Geometry of Wire-to-Airfoil Atmospheric Ionic Thrusters

Scaling Relations for the Geometry of Wire-to-Airfoil Atmospheric Ionic Thrusters

Blade emitters for atmospheric ionic thrusters

Toroidal counter electrode for ionic propulsion

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