Experiments on the Thrust Generation of Ionic Wind Propulsion Systems

A pair of asymmetrical electrodes under high voltage can produce an ionic wind and thrust. Ionic wind propulsion has been proposed as an alternative method to that used by standard airplanes today. The main advantages of the proposed aircraft propulsion are: no moving parts, nearly silent and no combustion emissions. This paper reports on experiments with two offset electrode configurations for the generation of thrust by corona discharges and shows scalability of thrust by increasing the thruster frame length from 0.4 m up to 4 m. A concept for an EAD biplane flying wing design is presented, with a wing span of 4 m and an expected thrust of 8.5 N.