Model of Ideal Electrohydrodynamic Thruster

Abstract

Abstract : We theoretically examine the idea of using the Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) ionic wind pump effect in thruster applications. This idea has been under discussion for many decades. However, there is still no commonly accepted view on EHD-thrusters, e.g., whether EHD-thruster is worthwhile or not, what level of thrust and thrust efficiency can be obtained from EHD-thrusters, etc. In this paper we present a simple one-dimensional model of an ideal EHD-thruster for calculating thrust efficiency and thrust of EHD-thrusters. We also calculate the maximum current that can be achieved for an ideal EHD-thruster at a given voltage. This allows us to calculate the maximum thrust that can be obtained from the thruster and the corresponding thrust efficiency. We show that with an increase in the voltage, the maximum trust and the corresponding thrust efficiency move in opposite directions: the thrust efficiency decreases, while the thrust increases. Our model illuminates the physical limitations of EHD-thrusters and provides reasonable estimates of the performance of real EHD-thrusters.