Ionic Thruster

LOG · WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT DOES

An ionic thruster makes thrust with no moving parts: a high voltage on a sharp electrode, here the blades, ionizes the air, and the ions rush toward the grounded electrodes, here the rods, dragging air along with them as ionic wind. This one stacked three triangular stages on a 120 kV transformer.

WHY

In my arrogance, I saw MIT make one and thought I could make one better than them.

WHAT I WORKED ON

We experimented with aluminum ground rods against steel and silver wires and blades, at 10, 15, 25, 40 and 50 kV, over about 4 days of development (~20 hours). In our research we found Integza's work and tried to build on it. For the final version we stacked 3 "proto-3" layers vertically, back to back, going from smaller to bigger. Each proto-3 layer had 3 sides, and each side had 2 ground rods and a positive blade, all run on a 120 kV transformer. It worked much like MIT's on the first test; then, during the second demo of the final prototype in a crowded room, the plasma started bridging and arcing, and I was asked to leave the room. Turns out humidity is a very important factor if you want plasma clouds instead of arcs: high humidity and temperature caused the arcs, and we later recreated the results in a low-temperature, low-humidity environment.

WHAT CAME OF IT

After that demo, it went on a shelf somewhere at Cornell, where it's sitting now.