Electrostatic Fluid Accelerator under High-Speed Free Air Stream

The electrostatic fluid accelerator (EFA) generates ionic wind with a simple structure that barely obstructs the free air stream or produce excessive noise. This paper presents the velocity characteristics of an EFA under a high speed free air stream to simulate an EFA-powered propulsor. The results show that when the EFA generates identical velocity to the free air stream, the EFA contributes 25% of the resultant velocity. When the EFA is replaced by a rotary fan that generates identical velocity to the free air stream, the fan contributes only 13.4% of the resultant velocity. (C) 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim