Controlled Electric Charging of an Aircraft in Flight using Corona Discharge

Abstract

This work is part of an ongoing study to provide an artificial means of controlling the net electrical charge of an aircraft in flight through charge emission. The charging system consists on an onboard d.c. high voltage power supply (of the order of 10 kV) with the high voltage terminal connected to a coronating anode and the low voltage terminal connected to the body whose potential needs to be controlled. The system must be electrically floating and exposed to wind. During an initial transient, the positive ions produced by the corona are convected away by the wind and the body charges negatively in response. This paper presents a theoretical model of the charging strategy that reveals two distinct regimes of charging and corona operation, as well as wind tunnel experiments using both a sphere-corona tip assembly and a 2D wing-corona wire assembly that confirm the theoretical predictions. Finally, we implement the system in an RC aircraft to demonstrate that charging in flight using corona discharge is feasible and does not affect flight operations.