From that moment, researchers had done many attempts for self-sustained liftoff but they failed.
The main problem was to develop a high-voltage power supply that is light enough to fly.
Finally, a new hope of ionocraft has come due to the recent advances in semiconductor technology.
Working Principle
They propel ionized air molecules downward which creates thrust and helps ionocraft to fly.
They first ionize air with a high voltage to create thrust.
Actually, there are a pair of conductors, one with a sharp and other without sharp, which in combination moves ionic wind downwards.
How Ionocraft Works?
Ionocraft works on principle of Electrohydrodynamics (EHD).
EHD is the study of the concept of ions and electric fields.
This mechanism works by ionizing air and using electric fields to accelerate the air.
It produces thrust which causes it to fly.
An air gap separates those two conductors which is just a few inches wide.
That conductor induces a strong electric field around it with a sharp edge when high voltage is applied.
The imbalanced electric field causes the air molecules near sharp-edged conductors to ionize.
Finally, they are propelled toward the conductor of opposite polarity.
So, the ionized molecules move downward, they also drag some neutral molecules with them.
This creates a macro-scale movement for upward propulsion force on the aircraft.
The unequal way is the main cause for creating and collecting ionized air molecules.
Homemade Ionocraft
The ionocraft could be made at home by using our daily life materials.
The conductor possessing a sharp edge is known as Corona Wire.
Except for the corona wire or without sharp edges, the wire is called a collector.
How to make an ionocraft at home?
Mainly ionocraft consists of 3 parts:
Corona Wire
Collector Wire
Structural Wire
The topmost importance of ionocraft is to reduce the weight of its whole system and make it light-weight.
For that reason, while making an ionocraft, you will need:
Thin Bare Copper Wires for Corona Wires
Aluminium Foil for Collector Plates
Any Light-Weighted Wood for Structural Supports
Materials Needed
Aluminium Foil
Wooden sticks
A copper wire
Series of 9v battery
Resistor
Process
Take some wooden sticks, cut and fix as in the shown picture.
wrap aluminium foil around it.
Make numerous coils of copper wire running in parallel with aluminium foil.
Create an appropriate air gap between copper wire and aluminium foil.
Pros of Ionocraft
It’s combustion free and requires no moving parts.
Potentially, it can bring a new type of aircraft with very low heat and noise profile.
It will often need very low maintenance.
It will give a long service life.
Military have great potential to use ionocraft for secret and effective operation.
Ionocraft as delivery drones in urban areas, will keep the buzzing noise low.
Cons of Ionocraft
The successful ionocraft launch hasn’t been demonstrated yet.
The patent for Ionocraft was made 5 decades ago.
Electrohydrodynamics (EHD) is more energy saving than present day jet engines.
The thrust to power ratio of EHD is 22.7 times that of modern aircraft engines.
While EHD has 110 N/kW but Modern Aircraft engines have approximately 4 N/kW.
They need 100 kV voltage to fly.
Actually, this is needed to have practical thrust density (force per cross-sectional area) of the engine.
But no power supply could provide that much voltage, that’s why they are too heavy to fly.
A New Hope
Many recent advances have been made in semiconductor technology.
So, they offer a new hope to achieve a successful ionocraft flying test.
This helps for the further advancement of ionocraft research.
High voltage transistors and diodes used to cover a large die to resist high voltage stress because silicon was the only workable material for power semiconductor devices.
That die limits the switching frequency to give large device capacitance, causing obstacles for ionocraft to fly.
Recently developed Gallium Nitride (GaN) and Silicon Carbide (SiC) make high voltage devices possible.
They contain small capacitance to enable fast switching frequency.
This reduces the weight of the whole system by leading to small inductors and capacitors in the power supply.
Those new semiconductor devices are the key for making ionocraft practical.
Ionization in Space (Ion Engine)
In space, ion thrusters are used mainly for maintaining proper position of communication satellites.
They are often used for propelling spacecraft throughout the solar system.
For space missions of long distance, ion propulsion is considered to be ideal.
Ion thrusters have high specific impulses (ratio of thrust to the rate of propellant consumption).
So, a spacecraft with ion thrusters needs very less propellant.
We don’t need to carry enough chemical propellant on the spacecraft to complete the desired mission.
But the same spacecraft with chemical thrusters will need more propellant.
