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| Image: Christine Y. He |
To propel an aircraft, propellers which spins or a jet engine containing fan inside are used. They not very efficient and generates a lot of sound and also burning fuels aren't environment friendly either. Researchers at MIT have successfully built and tested an ionic wind powered aircraft which eliminates our need of traditional moving propellers. This was achieved by using a phenomenon called Electroaerodynamic (EAD) propulsion which has been well known since 1960s. What's interesting about this technology is that it uses electricity rather than burning fuels and doesn't require any moving part to propel which makes it much more efficient, quiet and reliable.
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| Image: MIT Electric Aircraft Initiative |
The aircraft stays aloft by charging wires with a very high voltage (40,000 V) which make it strip negatively charged electrons from air molecules, which are again attracted to negative electrodes at the back of the aircraft. The collisions from that newly-formed ionic wind create the thrust needed to keep the vehicle airborne.
For the test flight, the aircraft model was just 2.45 kg. If successfully scaled up to commercial aircraft, it would have a lot of advantages over traditional airplanes. However doing so would be very challenging from designing and engineering side. So instead of fully ionic wind powered propulsion system, researchers think this this technology could be used alongside traditional propulsion systems or Hybrid Aircraft.
Watch the video for more details.
Watch the video for more details.
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