Patent Number: 
Section: abstract

This invention provides an apparatus and a method which utilizes magnetohydrodynamic means for conditioning flow in a gas flow turbine or turbojet and for achieving power extraction to increase relative velocity. Moreover, the power, which is so extracted, can be recycled back into the system in order to further increase the power output and efficiency of the engine. The invention achieves the flow conditioning through use of an inlet annular flow passage. This assembly is placed upstream of the gas turbine inlet and has one or more superconducting magnets, which create a high magnetic field operative across the flow passage. Preferably, the magnetic field is a radial field. The walls of the passage include slots, which accommodate electron beams directed in a spiral path within the magnetic field to form locally ionized regions in the form of a helix within the annular flow path. An electrical load is placed across the inlet and the outlet of the annular duct in order to extract power, which can be reintroduced into the energy system in a variety of ways, for example by the softening of shock waves to reduce drag and/or magnetohydrodynamic flow acceleration downstream of the gas flow turbine.