Patent ID: 8006939
Filing Date: 2011-08-30
Classification: B64C,F03H,F05D,F15D,H05H,Y02T

Abstract:
1. An aircraft, comprising: a turbojet engine that provides propulsion for the aircraft; a wing having a trailing edge with flight control surfaces on opposite sides of a longitudinal axis of the aircraft, the flight control surfaces being immovable relative to the wing; a geometric grid of individual electrodes and individual magnets embedded within each of the flight control surfaces, the electrodes and magnets alternating with each other within the grid in more than one direction, the electrodes, when supplied with electrical power, creating electric fields on each of the flight control surfaces, the magnets creating magnetic fields on each of the flight control surfaces; an electron beam window formed in each of the wings upstream from the electrodes and the magnets: an electron beam generator within the wing adjacent each of the windows, each electron beam generator creating an electron beam that passes through one of the windows into a boundary layer of an airstream passing over each of the flight control surfaces, creating positively charged ions and electrons in the boundary layer upstream from each of the grids and downstream from a leading edge of the wing, the ions being accelerated by the electric field in a direction parallel to the electric field, the electrons being accelerated by the electric field in a direction opposite to the ions, and the magnetic field mitigating momentum of the electrons; a conductive upstream terminal positioned on each of the flight control surfaces upstream from the electrodes and the magnets for collecting electrons moving in an upstream direction in response to the electric field generated by the electrodes; a conductive downstream terminal positioned on each of the flight control surfaces downstream from the electrodes and the magnets; a conductive lead extending between the terminals for conveying electrons from the upstream terminal to the downstream terminal, which discharges the electrons into the air flow; and a controller that controls power to the electrodes to affect a boundary layer of air flowing over each of the flight control surfaces to control attitude and position of the aircraft.