Design and Construction of An Electro-Hydrodynamic Thruster for Use in a Flying Microrobot

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 MUT

2 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, MUT

Abstract

This paper deals with the design and construction of a propeller for use in a flying micro robot using controlled electro-hydrodynamic current corona discharge. One example of plasma actuators is corona plasma actuators, which are created by a high-voltage electrode with a small radius of curvature as the emitter and another electrode as the collector, which are located at a certain distance from each other. In this research, micro robot-scale aerial vehicles with a weight of less than 100 mg and a characteristic length of less than 5 cm were investigated using an electro-hydrodynamic actuator based on corona discharge actuators. In this research, by examining the use of different aluminum metal alloys (T3, 1100, 2024, 7050, and 7075), an optimal weight for the collector and the optimal weight and necessary strength (T3 aluminum alloy) for the emitter were obtained. The results of this study showed, it is concluded that, in negative corona, increasing the voltage in the single-emitter sample has a significant effect on reducing the production efficiency compared to the dual-emitter propellant.

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References

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Amirkabir Journal of Mechanical Engineering
Volume 57, Issue 5
August 2025
Pages 567-588

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