MIT researchers have created and flown the first plane that doesn’t require any moving parts.
“Although it is still a long way off from commercial gas turbine propulsion … electroaerodynamic propulsion has the potential to be a game-changer for short-range, small-payload drone flights,” says Priyanka Dhopade, a researcher at the Oxford Thermofluids Institute.
Even if this type of propulsion can’t get efficient enough for commercial aircraft, Barrett believes it could be used in conjunction with jet engines. He says that electroaerodynamic propulsion systems can be embedded in the skin of a plane and used to reenergize the air traveling along the aircraft. Currently, this air ends up behind the aircraft, moving slowly and dragging it back. The addition of the new propulsion systems could eliminate this drag and increase fuel efficiency.
Can this type of technology be used to circumvent sonic booms. My interpretation is that energizing the air to reduce drag is in effect reducing its collusion with air, which causes noise and sonic boom... In other words reducing drag is reducing air colluding with the airframe hence less noise and sonic boom
I'm not talking about engines but the airframe. The text says: "He says that electroaerodynamic propulsion systems can be embedded in the skin of a plane and used to reenergize the air traveling along the aircraft. Currently, this air ends up behind the aircraft, moving slowly and dragging it back. " My interpretation is that energizing the air to reduce drag is in effect reducing its collusion with air, which causes noise and sonic boom... In other words reducing drag is reducing air colliding with the airframe hence less noise and sonic boom.
For further reading read here:
- An electric plane with no moving parts has made its first flight
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