Successively accelerated ionic wind with integrated dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma actuator for low-voltage operation

Shintaro Sato,Masayuki Takahashi,Haruki Furukawa,Atsushi Komuro,Naofumi Ohnishi

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-42284-w

Abstract

Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) force is used for active control of fluid motion and for the generation of propulsive thrust by inducing ionic wind with no moving parts. We propose a method of successively generating and accelerating ionic wind induced by surface dielectric-barrier-discharge (DBD), referred to as a DBD plasma actuator with multiple electrodes. A conventional method fails to generate unidirectional ionic wind, due to the generation of a counter ionic-wind with the multiple electrodes DBD plasma actuator. However, unidirectional ionic wind can be obtained by designing an applied voltage waveform and electrode arrangement suitable for the unidirectional EHD force generation. Our results demonstrate that mutually enhanced EHD force is generated by using the multiple electrodes without generating counter ionic-wind and highlights the importance of controlling the dielectric surface charge to generate the strong ionic wind. The proposed method can induce strong ionic wind without a high-voltage power supply, which is typically expensive and heavy, and is suitable for equipping small unmanned aerial vehicles with a DBD plasma actuator for a drastic improvement in the aerodynamic performance.

Highlights

Birds, insects, fish, and swimming mammals perceive fluid motion and actively control its flow in order to generate lift efficiently and to enhance locomotive performance[1,2,3]
A previous study demonstrated the flow control effect in low-velocity flow[6]. This result indicates that the dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuator is feasible for controlling flow, provided that the cruising speed is less than 108 km/h, as with small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)[20]
Our strategy for improving the performance of DBD plasma actuators is based on simple dynamics of surface discharge, and it has the potential to dramatically enhance the ionic wind generation with low-voltage operation

Summary

Introduction

Insects, fish, and swimming mammals perceive fluid motion and actively control its flow in order to generate lift efficiently and to enhance locomotive performance[1,2,3]. There must be a gap between each actuator module, because counter ionic-wind is induced when successive actuator modules are close together or when high voltage is applied, degrading the performance of the integrated DBD plasma actuator. This is known as the cross-talk phenomenon[21]. We propose a multi-electrode DBD plasma actuator that mutually enhances the EHD force between successive actuator modules, rather than generating counter ionic-wind. The upstream side of the adjacent exposed electrode absorbs the surface charge and prevent electric field screening, enhancing the EHD force rather than degrading it

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion