Modelling of an improved positive corona thruster and actuator

Martins, Alexandre A.

doi:10.1016/j.elstat.2012.09.001

Cited by 22 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The ions accelerate in the electric field and collide with neutral air molecules, resulting in momentum transfer represented by volumetric electrohydrodynamic force, which gives rise to bulk air movement commonly called as ion wind. The ion wind has been used in various airflow control applications [1][2][3] , cooling application [4][5][6][7] , propulsion technology [8][9][10] , micro-pump design 11,12 , precipitation filtering 13,14 , and electronic devices [15][16][17] . There are several methods generating electric-field driven ion wind and two principal approaches are reviewed below.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dual-pin electrohydrodynamic generator driven by alternating current

Dau

Dinh

Tran

et al. 2018

Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

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We report a unique alternating current (AC) driven corona based air-flow generator using symmetrically arranged electrodes. Unlike the conventional configuration where one electrode generates charged ions moving towards the reference electrode, this configuration allows both negative and positive charges to simultaneously move away from the device and generate ion wind in parallel with the electrodes. In comparison with the direct current (DC) driven corona generator, the time oscillating AC field allows the device a better stabilization owing to the independence of ion wind strength from the inter-electrode spacing. Our results by both simulation and experiment showed that when the AC frequency exceeds a threshold value of 1100 Hz, the electric field at the electrode tips is determined dominantly by the charge cloud created in the previous half-cycle, resulting in stronger net electric field and thus stronger ion wind. In addition, the electrode separation in the AC driven corona based generator is less critical above the frequency threshold, yielding a more robust design with minimized susceptibility to manufacturing tolerances and impurities on the electrodes. Moreover, lower voltage levels of the AC driven system allow simpler and more economical design in the high voltage circuit of the AC generator.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dual-pin electrohydrodynamic generator driven by alternating current

Dau

Dinh

Tran

et al. 2018

Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science

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“…This has also motivated literature focused on developing computational models to solve the EHD governing equations [12][13][14][15][16][17]. In aerospace engineering, research efforts have focused on using dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) to provide aerodynamic flow control to prevent subsonic boundary layer separation over aerofoils [18][19][20].…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Another numerical analysis by Martins & Pinheiro [14] quantified the sensitivity of thrust output with respect to collecting electrode diameter, determining that thrust increased with diameter owing to higher levels of ionization at the emitting electrode. A further numerical analysis performed by Martins [15] considered an improved thruster design with multiple collecting stages for a single emitting electrode. The thrust achieved in these numerical analyses is on the same order of magnitude as the thrusts observed in Masuyama & Barrett [23] and Moreau et al [25], although the level of agreement was dependent on modelling assumptions such as emitter boundary conditions.…”

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confidence: 99%

Electrohydrodynamic thrust density using positive corona-induced ionic winds for in-atmosphere propulsion

Gilmore

Barrett

2015

Proc. R. Soc. A.

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ResearchCite this article: Gilmore CK, Barrett SRH. 2015 Electrohydrodynamic thrust density using positive corona-induced ionic winds for in-atmosphere propulsion. Proc. R. Soc Previous work has characterized electrohydrodynamic (EHD) thruster performance, determining that thrust-to-power ratios are comparable with that of conventional propulsion at the laboratory scale. Achievable thrust density of EHD propulsion has yet to be experimentally quantified and could be a limiting factor in its application. In this paper, we quantify the achievable thrust density for a wire-to-cylinder electrode geometry using positive corona discharges for electrode pairs operating in parallel and in series. Geometric parameters, including the non-dimensional inter-pair and stage spacings, are varied, and the effect on current and thrust is measured. We estimate a maximum thrust per unit area of 3.3 N m −2 and a maximum thrust per unit volume of 15 N m −3 , which we compare with the characteristic thrust density of a range of aircraft. We find that trade-offs exist between thrust density and the achieved thrust-to-power ratio, where increases in the former through either increased power input or pair packing density lead to decreases in the latter. We conclude that EHD propulsion has the potential to be viable from both an energy efficiency perspective (our previous study) and a thrust density perspective (this paper), with the greatest likelihood of viability for smaller aircraft such as unmanned aerial vehicles.

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“…The electro hydrodynamics (EHD), deals with the flow interactions between a primary flow and a secondary flow also referred as electric wind or ionic wind, this task has been investigated theoretically and experimentally, leading to various applications as the electrostatic precipitators [1,2], and the electro hydrodynamic thrusters [3,4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%