WojtekSz
28th Aug 2016, 09:10
there is an interesting article on experiments in flow control (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/next/space/plasma-air-control/) over wing front and rear edges using plasma. Serious optimization effects are quoted.
Would be like commercialized use of St.Elmo's fire type effects.
Lately there is a lot of interest in plasma - possibly generated by successful implementation of plasma devices as promoted by Dr Keshe open designs published by his keshefoundation.org (http://keshefoundation.org/)
The power of such a fundamental approach was highlighted by a recent NASA-funded demonstration project in which Corke’s team at Notre Dame succeeded in deploying plasma actuators to suppress what he describes as “an important near-surface flow instability” that aerodynamicists know presages the onset of deleterious turbulence and drag.
Corke and his team reported that the wind tunnel test item, which used “new actuators that developed 20 times more thrust while consuming 100 times less power, produced a 65% drag reduction.” The Notre Dame researchers have found that introducing a small oscillation whose waves move perpendicular to the air flow path can halt the onset of the so-called near-surface flow instabilities that lead to turbulence.
The results, when scaled up, could be impressive. “I ran the numbers for an aircraft design the size of a Predator UAV on a computer,” Corke says. “If you put plasma actuators on one, it could extend its range by 300% and its endurance from 24 to 36 hours.” NASA has awarded the group a Phase 2 R&D contract, and now DARPA is said to be interested in the novel technology, which has since been patented and licensed to a start-up company.
Would be like commercialized use of St.Elmo's fire type effects.
Lately there is a lot of interest in plasma - possibly generated by successful implementation of plasma devices as promoted by Dr Keshe open designs published by his keshefoundation.org (http://keshefoundation.org/)
The power of such a fundamental approach was highlighted by a recent NASA-funded demonstration project in which Corke’s team at Notre Dame succeeded in deploying plasma actuators to suppress what he describes as “an important near-surface flow instability” that aerodynamicists know presages the onset of deleterious turbulence and drag.
Corke and his team reported that the wind tunnel test item, which used “new actuators that developed 20 times more thrust while consuming 100 times less power, produced a 65% drag reduction.” The Notre Dame researchers have found that introducing a small oscillation whose waves move perpendicular to the air flow path can halt the onset of the so-called near-surface flow instabilities that lead to turbulence.
The results, when scaled up, could be impressive. “I ran the numbers for an aircraft design the size of a Predator UAV on a computer,” Corke says. “If you put plasma actuators on one, it could extend its range by 300% and its endurance from 24 to 36 hours.” NASA has awarded the group a Phase 2 R&D contract, and now DARPA is said to be interested in the novel technology, which has since been patented and licensed to a start-up company.