Aircraft without moving parts. No wings, no screws. No engines. Corona plasma only.
Ion flight.
As the name implies, the principle of creating the lifting force of the apparatus is associated with ions, or rather the "ionic wind", and, to be precise, with the electrohydrodynamic Biefeld-Brown effect. How it works?
To simplify, then so. High voltage (tens of thousands of volts) is applied to two pointed electrodes such as a needle, wire, or blade. A corona discharge occurs. The atoms in the surrounding air are ionized. The ions begin to move towards the wide electrode, colliding with the molecules of the surrounding air and giving them part of their kinetic energy, or converting the molecules into ions or transferring acceleration to them. An air flow is created, the so-called electric wind from a thin electrode to a wide one: that is, jet thrust.
Here is a flying model of the ion plane:
The glow of the corona discharge between the electrodes is clearly visible.
Promotional video:
The effect of ionic or electric wind has been well studied for a long time. Back in 1750, the Englishman Wilson first reported on the effect of "recoil, or reactive force in a corona discharge," and the laboratory model of the "electrostatic spinner" with two sharp electrodes, which appeared soon after, became well known. When connected to a high-voltage source - for example, an electric machine, it spins quite quickly.
In 1927, physicist Thomas Brown (he was working with an X-ray tube) discovered that a small driving force was generated when the tube mounted on a balance was turned on. Having published his scientific work, he patented the invention, calling it "gravitator". In general, Brown was fond of all sorts of parascientific theories like "electrogravity", and therefore the idea of an ion flight was overgrown with completely fantastic and implausible details like the antigravitational effect and the like.
In the 1960s, Russian-born American aircraft designer Alexander Prokofiev-Seversky became interested in using the effect in aviation. He built several models of the ion-plane (laboratory, powered from an external source via a cable) - and considered that the machine has a future. He also invented the term "ionolet".
Seversky and his model of the ion-aircraft.
Seversky offered several variants of cars at once:
Here one can see a characteristic feature of ion-planes: for efficient creation of thrust, the electrode grid must have a solid area and dimensions. That is, the body of the car will be inside the "motor grid".
Energy is transferred to the ion-plane via a microwave beam from a ground station.
… It was about one onboard power supply. The ionolet needs high voltage (from tens of kilovolts to megavolts) and high power. That is, an onboard battery with a very high capacity and energy density, which was unattainable for the technology of those years. Only now is the technology beginning to approach the creation of truly supercapacity and lightweight at the same time batteries like graphene. And using another source (like an electric diesel generator on liquid fuel) is unprofitable in terms of weight and efficiency. Seversky's models flew perfectly on a tethered cable. However, he also proposed a variant of transferring energy to the ion-plane from a ground station with a microwave beam.
The idea of large passenger ion aircraft has become quite popular. Even in the USSR, their projects were published.
Ionolet * Aeroflot * from an article in "Technology-youth". Below is Tu-144.
How are things today? There are successes. A year ago, at MIT, the first ever flight of a model ion aircraft with an internal power source took place. A model with a wingspan of 5 meters and weighing 3 kg can fly on its battery for up to several minutes at a speed of 11 km / h.
It is interesting that you, if you want, can easily make your own ionolet in your home workshop. There are enough materials on the web on the topics "how to build a lifter" or "do-it-yourself airplane" It flies perfectly.
The materials are simple. 1- wire, 3- foil, 2- light wood.
