Electric propulsion using an alternating positive/negative corona discharge configuration composed of wire emitters and wire collector arrays in air

We present a study on a corona discharge configuration exclusively composed of thin wires that provides maximal thrust performance and a compact unit staging method. The ion and air flow behaviors were experimentally and numerically investigated. The basic characteristics derived from the experiments are reported for three discharge configurations (positive, negative, and positive/negative alternation). The proposed alternating positive/negative configuration enhanced the thrust (5.4 N/m(2) of maximum thrust to air flow area ratio) through the ability to achieve compact staging, compared to a previous study. In addition, two useful equations as criteria in the evaluation of the thrust performance were derived. VC 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3636409]