b-IONIC Airfish
b-IONIC Airfish - An experiment in pneumatics and bionics
In this projectile, bionic refinement meets unusual drive forms that were originally conceived for outer space. The flow-optimised pneumatic structure is derived from the penguin.
The new bionic plasma undulating drive in the stubby wings is a simplified copy of the mechanical beating wing drive of birds, without the moving parts. The classical principle of the ion beam drive, that functions using air-ionising high DC voltage fields, is at work in the tail. The accelerated air ions thus produce an ion wind with a speed of up to 10 m/s.
However, future application ranges for atmospheric ion drives are not focused on obtaining a propelling force, but rather in the areas of the resistance reduction and resistance elimination.
In this projectile, bionic refinement meets unusual drive forms that were originally conceived for outer space. The flow-optimised pneumatic structure is derived from the penguin.
The new bionic plasma undulating drive in the stubby wings is a simplified copy of the mechanical beating wing drive of birds, without the moving parts. The classical principle of the ion beam drive, that functions using air-ionising high DC voltage fields, is at work in the tail. The accelerated air ions thus produce an ion wind with a speed of up to 10 m/s.
However, future application ranges for atmospheric ion drives are not focused on obtaining a propelling force, but rather in the areas of the resistance reduction and resistance elimination.
© 2008 Festo AG & Co. KG