journal article·2025-12-01Open access

Thrust density enhancement by booster electrodes in solid-state propulsion systems

Reina Wakimoto, Hisaichi Shibata, Soya Shimizu, Hiroyuki Tsubata, Xin Jiang, Tomoya Kitamura, Hermano Igo Krebs, Takahiro Nozaki

AIP Advances· Volume 15· Issue 12

Abstract

Insufficient thrust density is a critical issue in a solid-state electro-aerodynamic propulsion system (SSEP) during vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drones. Therefore, this study proposes the use of booster electrodes designed to enhance ion generation. To evaluate its performance, numerical simulations were conducted using a two-dimensional, three-species plasma fluid model. The results were experimentally validated, demonstrating that booster electrodes enhance the thrust density of SSEP by ∼4.46 times at 15 kV, 2.22 times at 20 kV, and 1.84 times at 25 kV when compared with the results of the configuration without the booster electrode. This study encourages the practical applications of VTOL drones by demonstrating the improvement in thrust density with booster electrodes through both numerical analysis and experiments.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Electrohydrodynamics and Fluid Dynamics · Plasma and Flow Control in Aerodynamics · Aerosol Filtration and Electrostatic Precipitation

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of System Design Engineering, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8522, Japan 1

Graduate School of Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-8522, Japan 2

Department of Electrical Engineering, Tokyo University of Science, 6-3-1 Shinjuku, Katsushika-ku, Tokyo 125-8585, Japan 3

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA 4

Funding

New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization

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