(2022, March), Ion Lifter and Its Design Optimization through Experiment  Paper presented at 2022 ASEE - North Central Section Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--39250

\bibitem{asee_peer_39250}
   (2022, March), \emph{Ion Lifter and Its Design Optimization through Experiment}
  Paper presented at 2022 ASEE - North Central Section Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  10.18260/1-2--39250

.  "Ion Lifter and Its Design Optimization through Experiment".  2022 ASEE - North Central Section Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2022, March.  ASEE Conferences, 2022.  https://peer.asee.org/39250 Internet.  12 Jan, 2025

\bibitem{asee_peer_39250}
  .
  "Ion Lifter and Its Design Optimization through Experiment".
  \emph{2022 ASEE - North Central Section Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2022, March}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2022.
  https://peer.asee.org/39250 Internet.  12 Jan, 2025

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_39250
author = ""
title = "Ion Lifter and Its Design Optimization through Experiment"
booktitle = "2022 ASEE - North Central Section Conference"
year = "2022"
month = "March"
address = "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/39250}
number = {10.18260/1-2--39250}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Thrust is generally created through either chemical combustion (such as in traditional rockets) or through mechanical means (such as in helicopters). The ion lifter creates thrust without either of these, instead solely using electricity.  In the simplest model, an ion lifter consists of two electrodes with drastically different radii of curvature, one a thin tungsten wire and the other a thick aluminum plate. A powerful electric field is produced when a sufficiently large voltage is applied (the corona inception voltage). This field ionizes and rapidly accelerates the air molecules surrounding the tungsten wire, causing them to travel from the wire to the ground electrode at high speeds. These ions collide and transfer momentum to neutral air molecules, creating downwards airflow and lifting the thruster into the air. The objective of this research is to explore how different variables, such as the lifter’s dimensions, the distance between the two electrodes, and the thickness (shape) of the ground electrode affect the lifter’s power consumption and capacity to produce thrust. Multiple lifters were fabricated and tested with different values of the above-mentioned variables as well as under different applied voltages. The experimental data will be presented and analyzed. It was found that among all the tested variables, the distance between the two electrodes impacts thrust the most, followed by the thickness of the ground electrode. The dimensions of the lifter had the least impact on thrust per unit length. The author will explore an optimized design based on the tested data. The poster will also present pictures of the lifters and graphs of lifter performance to aid in the analysis and support the conclusion. 
CY  - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
DA  - 2022/03/18
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Ion Lifter and Its Design Optimization through Experiment
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/39250
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--39250
ER  -