The Glow Discharge Plasma Wing

"Firefly" Mk2

Advanced Reduced Drag Aircraft
By Jean-Louis Naudin
created on december 14h, 1999 - JLN Labs - Last update December 18th, 1999

You will find below some photos of the Firefly Mk2, the Glow Discharge Plasma Wing. This is the logical continuation of the ARDA Project and this is the first step towards a new generation of flying crafts. All the surface, in this case a wing profile, is covered by an uniform cold plasma generated by a glow discharge at high voltage and at high frequency. The glowing plasma is not the main source of the thrust or of the drag reduction effect.

The pictures below are real photos (with AGFA HDC ISO 200-AP70/C41) of working units and not simple computer designs.

You may see also :

- The FIRST TESTS RESULTS of the GDP Skin Tests (12-18-99)

Some interesting references, patents and links :

- The Industrial Plasma Engineering Group of the UTK Plasma Sciences Laboratory has been supported by NASA Grant NCC 1-223 since October 1, 1995 to develop the applications of a One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma (OAUGDP) to aerodynamic boundary layer and flow control. These and related applications are described in U. S. Patent 5,669,583, "Method and Apparatus for Covering Bodies with a Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma and Applications Thereof". Wind tunnel measurements for this research were taken in the 7 X 11 inch Low Speed Wind Tunnel of the NASA Langley Research Center's Fluid Modeling and Control Branch, Hampton, VA.

- Boundary Layer Flow Control with a one Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Surface Plasma. AIAA 98-0328, 36th Aerospace Sciences Meeting & Exhibit, Reno, Nevada, pp. 29.- Roth, J. Reece; Sherman, Daniel M.; Wilkinson, Stephen P. (1998)

- "Steady-State, Glow Discharge Plasma". U. S. Patent #5,387,842, Issued February 7, 1995.- Roth J. R., Tsai P. P. and Liu C.

- "One Atmosphere Uniform Glow Discharge Plasma". U. S. Patent #5,414,324, Issued May 9, 1995. - Roth J. R., Tsai P. P., Liu C., Laroussi M. and Spence P. D.

- "Method and Apparatus for Glow discharge Plasma Treatment of Polymer Materials at Atmospheric Pressure". U. S. Patent #5,456,972, Issued Oct 10, 1995. - Roth J. R., Tsai P. P., Liu C. and Wadsworth L. C.

- "Method and Apparatus for Covering Bodies with A Uniform Glow discharge Plasma and Applications Thereof". U. S. Patent #5,669,583, Issued Sept 23, 1997.- Roth J. R.

Email : JNaudin509@aol.com

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