Electroaerodynamic propulsion, where force is produced through collisions between electrostatically accelerated ions and neutral air molecules, is an attractive alternative to propeller- and flapping wing-based methods for micro air vehicle (MAV) flight due to its silent and solid-state nature. One major barrier to adoption is its limited thrust efficiency at useful disk loading levels. Ducted actuators comprising multiple serially-integrated acceleration stages are a potential solution, allowing individual stages to operate at higher efficiency while maintaining a useful total thrust, and potentially improving efficiency through various aerodynamic and fluid dynamic mechanisms. In this work, we investigate the effects of duct and emitter electrode geometries on actuator performance, then show how a combination of increasing cross-sectional aspect ratio and serial integration of multiple stages can be used to produce overall thrust densities comparable to commercial propulsors. An optimized five-stage device attains a thrust density of about 18 N/m$^2$ at a thrust efficiency of about 2 mN/W, among the highest values ever measured at this scale. We further show how this type of thruster can be integrated under the wings of a MAV-scale fixed wing platform, pointing towards future use as a distributed propulsion system.

翻译：电空气动力学推进通过静电加速离子与中性空气分子碰撞产生力，因其静音和固态特性，成为微型飞行器（MAV）飞行中基于螺旋桨和扑翼方法的理想替代方案。其主要应用障碍在于在有用盘面载荷水平下的有限推力效率。包含多个串联集成加速级的管道式致动器是一种潜在解决方案，允许单个级在保持有用总推力的同时以更高效率运行，并可能通过多种空气动力学和流体动力学机制提升效率。本文研究了管道和发射极电极几何形状对致动器性能的影响，进而展示了如何通过结合增加横截面的展弦比与多级串联集成，来产生可与商用推进器相当的整体推力密度。优化后的五级装置在约2 mN/W的推力效率下实现了约18 N/m²的推力密度，这是在此尺度上测量到的最高值之一。我们进一步展示了如何将这种推力器集成到MAV级固定翼平台机翼下方，为其未来作为分布式推进系统的应用指明了方向。