EAD Airframe Version 2
Role First ion wind airplane
National origin United States
Designer Steven Barrett et al.
First flight 2018
Number built 1
Developed from EAD Airframe Version 1
Other name(s) V2
Type Experimental
Manufacturer Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Manufactured 2018
First flight 2018
Owners and operators MIT
Last flight 2018
Flights 11

The EAD Airframe Version 2, or V2, is a small American unmanned aircraft. It has been described as 'solid state', as there are no moving parts in the propulsion system; all thrust is powered by the phenomenon known as ion wind.[1] It is being developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics by engineer Steven Barrett (associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics) and others.[1][2]

It is claimed to be the first ion-propelled airplane.[3][1] Tethered ion-propelled aircraft without wings have existed since the 1960s.[4][5] These had ground-based high-voltage power supplied to the aircraft via a wire.

Design and development

The aircraft is a flying wing made of very light materials, including carbon-fibre, shrink-wrap plastic, balsa wood, polystyrene, and Kevlar.[6] It has a very wide open frame serving as a fuselage, in and below which thin wires are strung horizontally. The aircraft weighs just over 2.5 kilograms (6 lb) and has a wingspan of 5 metres (16 ft 4.9 in).[7]

The MIT engineers were able fine tune the aircraft to find the best design and power requirement by employing a technique known as geometric programming.

It can fly at around 4.8 metres per second (16 ft/s; 17 km/h; 11 mph).

Propulsion

The aircraft is an example of an ionocraft, which is powered by an ionic wind generated through controlled electrical discharge.

The fuselage contains a stack of 54 lithium-polymer batteries.[2][8] With the aid of a power supply unit these deliver a minimum of 20,000 volts of electrical potential, producing enough corona discharge to propel the aircraft. Air at the front of the wing is ionized by an electrical field near thin filaments of wire called emitters. Elsewhere on the airframe, collectors attract these positively charged ions. As the ions travel toward the collectors, they collide with air molecules. Energy is transferred from the ions to the air molecules, thereby producing air flow; the thrust propels the aircraft forwards, fast enough to gain flying speed, with the conventional wings providing aerodynamic lift.[6][9]

Operational history

The aircraft has flown at least eleven times, in the duPont Athletic Center, an indoor gymnasium on the MIT campus.[6] The flight distances have been constrained by the 60-metre (197 ft) long space within the gymnasium, and the aircraft normally flies about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) off the ground.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Scientists at MIT Have Flown The First-Ever Solid-State Plane Powered by an Ion Drive". Science News Magazines. 21 November 2018. Archived from the original on 2018-11-23. the first object to breeze through the air on the cusp of its own, self-generated ionic wind.
  2. 1 2 "MIT engineers fly first-ever plane with no moving parts". mit.edu. 21 November 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
  3. ↑ "MIT engineers fly first-ever plane with no moving parts". MIT News. 21 November 2018. Retrieved 2019-11-01. "This is the first-ever sustained flight of a plane with no moving parts in the propulsion system," says Steven Barrett
  4. ↑ Tajmar, M. (2004). "Biefeld–Brown Effect: Misinterpretation of Corona Wind Phenomena". AIAA Journal. 42 (2): 315–318. Bibcode:2004AIAAJ..42..315T. doi:10.2514/1.9095.
  5. ↑ Major de Seversky's Ion-Propelled Aircraft. Vol. 122. Popular mechanics. August 1964. pp. 58–61.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Radical Experimental Plane With No Moving Parts Wows Scientists". Gadgets360°. Red Pixels Ventures. 22 November 2018.
  7. ↑ "MIT scientists create plane with no moving parts". New York Post. 22 November 2018.
  8. ↑ Xu, Haofeng; He, Yiou; Strobel, Kieran L.; Gilmore, Christopher K.; Kelley, Sean P.; Hennick, Cooper C.; Sebastian, Thomas; Woolston, Mark R.; Perreault, David J.; Barrett, Steven R. H. (2018). "Flight of an aeroplane with solid-state propulsion". Nature. 563 (7732): 532–535. Bibcode:2018Natur.563..532X. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0707-9. ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 30464270. S2CID 256770461.
  9. ↑ "First 'solid-state' plane with no moving parts takes flight at MIT".
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