TECH

The airplane that flies without turbine or propeller

MIT scientists, one of the world's leading engineering laboratories, have developed an airplane model capable of flying completely without moving parts - that is - without the need for turbines or propellers as propellers. Instead, it uses something called "ionic wind," a stream of ions generated by its own body that functions as a propulsion. The new technology can be used to create much quieter aircraft, while saving the use of fossil fuels.Of course, at this early stage of development the technology will not be able to put a Boeing full of passengers in the air. Instead, Barrett imagines that the first to benefit from this will be the drones. The ion wind-based propulsion system could be used to create quieter drones, for example. And for the future, he imagines his technology being used in conjunction with more traditional propellers on commercial airplanes. Thus it would be possible to create hybrid passenger aircraft to save fuel.Explaining in a simplified way to work, the MIT team's airplane carries several batteries capable of generating up to 40,000 volts, which are used to give a positive charge to the strands stretched on the body of the airplane. As the plane begins to move, the wires leave positively charged ionized air molecules, which are then attracted by negatively charged electrodes that are at the back of the model. This movement of the ionized molecules creates a push that allows the airplane to fly.

M. C.