Wingless Electromagnetic Air Vehicle

The Wingless Electromagnetic Air Vehicle (WEAV) is a heavier than air flight system in development at the Florida Center For Advanced Aero-Propulsion (FCAAP) at Florida State University, funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.[1][2] The WEAV was invented in 2006 by Dr. Subrata Roy, plasma physicist and aerospace engineering associate professor at the University of Florida, and has been a subject of several patents.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

The WEAV uses a multitude of small electrodes covering the whole wetted area of the aircraft, in a multi-barrier plasma actuator (MBPA) arrangement, an enhancement over dual-electrode dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) systems using multiple layers of dielectric materials and powered electrodes.[9] These electrodes are very close to one another so surrounding air can be ionized using RF AC high voltage of a few tens of kilovolts even at the standard pressure of one atmosphere. The resultant plasma contains ions that are accelerated by the Coulomb force using electrohydrodynamics (EHD) at low altitude and small velocity. The surface of the vehicle acts as an electrostatic fluid accelerator pumping surrounding air as ion wind, radially then downward, so the lower pressure zone on the upper surface and the higher pressure zone underneath the aircraft produces lift and thrust for propulsion and stability.[1]. At a higher altitude and to reach greater speeds, a magnetic field is also applied to enhance collisions between electrons and heavy species in the plasma and use the more powerful Lorentz body force to accelerate all charge carriers in the same direction along a radial high speed jet.[2]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Greenemeier, Larry (7 July 2008). "The World's First Flying Saucer: Made Right Here on Earth". Scientific American.
  2. 1 2 Roy, Subrata; Arnold, David; Lin, Jenshan; Schmidt, Tony; Lind, Rick; et al. (20 December 2011). Air Force Office of Scientific Research; University of Florida, eds. Demonstration of a Wingless Electromagnetic Air Vehicle (PDF) (Report). Defense Technical Information Center. ASIN B01IKW9SES. AFRL-OSR-VA-TR-2012-0922.
  3. ↑ US patent 8382029, Subrata Roy, "Wingless hovering of micro air vehicle", issued 2013-02-26, assigned to University of Florida Research Foundation Inc.
  4. ↑ US patent 8960595, Subrata Roy, "Wingless hovering of micro air vehicle", issued 2015-02-24, assigned to University of Florida Research Foundation Inc.
  5. ↑ Hong Kong Patent No. 1129642B Issued on June 29, 2012.
  6. ↑ Chinese Patent ZL200780036093.1 Issued on October 19, 2011.
  7. ↑ European Patent EP 2,046,640 Issued on October 12, 2011.
  8. ↑ Japanese Patent no. 5,220,742 granted on March 15, 2013.
  9. ↑ Durscher, Ryan; Roy, Subrata (January 2011). "On Multi-Barrier Plasma Actuators" (PDF). Orlando, Florida. doi:10.2514/6.2011-958.


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