Ionocraft

Lifter designated aircraft whose driving principle is based on the generation of an ion wind through ionization of air molecules and their acceleration in an electric field with a strong gradient.

Principle of operation

Lifter usually consist of lightweight building materials, such as balsa or the like, which are often arranged in the triangular structures ( although other geometries are possible in principle ) and consist of two layers: At the top of the device passes a thin wire, the lower half is made of a wide strips of aluminum foil. In the " flight mode" is located between the wire (anode) and aluminum foil (cathode), a strong high voltage (range 10 kV and up) to. Due to the small radius creates a strong field gradient, are ionized in the wire to the air molecules and accelerated in the direction of the aluminum foil. Here they accelerate. Collision processes by further non- ionized air molecules, which produce a net thrust downward One speaks of the Biefeld -Brown effect.

Restrictions

Since the Biefeld -Brown effect requires the presence of an ionizable surrounding medium, in a high vacuum lifter can not work. However, the biggest limitation for the construction of lifters is their maximum mass. As the thrust generated by the ion wind is proportional to the applied voltage in a first approximation, quickly achieve the required field strengths for lifting with larger mass the critical field strength of air. Then arcs that collapse to form ion wind. This is probably the reason that as yet no credible demonstrations of man-carrying lifters were presented. However, smaller animals have already lifted with lifters. Since only a sufficient number of " Lifterzellen " must be connected together to increase the carrying capacity, the device can also at larger " passengers " always remain below the critical field strength.

The lift is not a perpetual motion machine: the ion flux is an electrical current that the power source supplies, where they must provide an electrical output.

Pseudoscience

The lift is always the subject of pseudo-scientific texts. In the Internet there are some publications on which a lifter with " anti-gravity " or similar, classical physics contradictory phenomena is explained. On artistic representations about man wearing lifts are represented, often in space flight outside the earth's atmosphere. In fact, there have been no demonstrations of man-carrying lifters or the functionality of lifters in vacuo. The underlying physical principle can not be such realizations. The Biefeld -Brown effect is easily within the physical world view explain, even in the classical physics, and requires no postulate applies to unknown forces or effects.

Patents

• GB- 300311
• U.S. 1974483
• U.S. 2949550
• U.S. 3018394
• U.S. 3022430
• U.S. 3187206
• U.S. 3196296