The Nikola Tesla Institute, founded in 2012 in BrasÃlia, Brasil is a scientific organization with a goal of popularization of new energy research. The private research laboratory is located near the lake Paranoa in the capital of Brazil.
http://www.institutotesla.org/propulsion.html
http://www.institutotesla.org/propulsion.html
PROPULSION SYSTEMS
Electrogravitics is a hypothesis proposed by Nikola Tesla and Tesla's subsequent extensive experimentation and demonstrations of the effect. The term was in widespread use by 1956. The effects of electrogravity have been searched for extensively in countless experiments since the beginning of the 20th century. To date, other than Tesla's experiments and the more recent ones reported by R. L. Talley, Eugene Podkletnov, and Giovanni Modanese, "no conclusive evidence of electrogravitic signatures has been found". Recently, some investigation has begun in electrohydrodynamics (EHD) or sometimes electro-fluid-dynamics, a counterpart to the well-known magnetohydrodynamics, but these do not seem a priori to be related to Tesla's "electrogravitics". Electrokinetics is a term used by Thomas Townsend Brown for the electrically generated propulsive force.
The Biefeld–Brown effect was initially investigated by Thomas Townsend Brown (USA) and Dr. Paul Alfred Biefeld (Germany) in the 1920s. Research continued through the 1950s and 1960s by Brown and other researchers. The use of this electrogravitic propulsion effect was further explored during the publicized era of gravity control propulsion research, which included the United States gravity control propulsion initiative. Research, based upon Thomas Townsend Brown's hypotheses, includes the idea that electrogravitics could be used as a means of propulsion for aircraft and spacecraft. Electrogravitic processes use an electric field to charge or, more properly, polarize an object with a specially-constructed shape. Brown's disks, for example, used an "asymmetrical" capacitor, sketches of which can be found in the literature pertaining to the Biefeld–Brown effect.
An ionocraft or ion-propelled aircraft, commonly known as a lifter or hexalifter, is an electrohydrodynamic (EHD) device (utilizing an electrical phenomenon known as the Biefeld–Brown effect) to produce thrust in the air, without requiring any combustion or moving parts. The term "Ionocraft" dates back to the 1960s, an era in which EHD experiments were at their peak. In its basic form, it simply consists of two parallel conductive electrodes, one in the form of a fine wire and another which may be formed of either a wire grid, tubes or foil skirts with a smooth round surface. When such an arrangement is powered up by high voltage in the range of a few kilovolts, it produces thrust. The ionocraft forms part of the EHD thruster family, but is a special case in which the ionisation and accelerating stages are combined into a single stage.
An EHD (electrohydrodynamic) thruster is a propulsion device based on ionic fluid propulsion, that works without moving parts, using only electrical energy. The principle of ionic (air) propulsion with corona-generated charged particles has been known since the earliest days of the discovery of electricity, with references dating back to year 1709 in a book titled Physico-Mechanical Experiments on Various Subjects by Francis Hauksbee. The first publicly demonstrated tethered model was developed by Major De Seversky in the form of an Ionocraft, a single stage EHD thruster, in which the thruster lifts itself by propelling air downwards. De Seversky contributed much to its basic physics and its construction variations during the year 1960 and has in fact patented his device U.S. Patent 3,130,945 , April 28, 1964). Only electric fields are used in this propulsion method. The basic components of an EHD thruster are two: an ioniser and an ion accelerator. Ionocrafts form part of this category, but their energy conversion efficiency is severely limited to less than 1% by the fact that the ioniser and accelerating mechanisms are not independent. Unlike the ionocraft, within an EHD thruster, the air gap in its second stage is not restricted or related to the Corona discharge voltage of its ionising stage. Unlike related propulsion devices, they need a fluid for their operation and cannot operate in space or vacuum.
Superconductors expel magnetic field, and hence repel magnets. This repulsion can be stronger than gravity, which leads to levitation - the most fascinating manifestation of superconductivity.
The Meissner effect is an expulsion of a magnetic field from a superconductor during its transition to the superconducting state. The German physicists Walther Meissner and Robert Ochsenfeld discovered the phenomenon in 1933 by measuring the magnetic field distribution outside superconducting tin and lead samples. The samples, in the presence of an applied magnetic field, were cooled below their superconducting transition temperature. Below the transition temperature the samples cancelled nearly all interior magnetic fields. They detected this effect only indirectly; because the magnetic flux is conserved by a superconductor, when the interior field decreased, the exterior field increased. The experiment demonstrated for the first time that superconductors were more than just perfect conductors and provided a uniquely defining property of the superconducting state.
The Casimir effect is a small attractive force that acts between two close parallel uncharged conducting plates. It is due to quantum vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. The effect was predicted by the Dutch physicist Hendrick Casimir in 1948. According to the quantum theory, the vacuum contains virtual particles which are in a continuous state of fluctuation. Casimir realised that between two plates, only those virtual photons whose wavelengths fit a whole number of times into the gap should be counted when calculating the vacuum energy. The energy density decreases as the plates are moved closer, which implies that there is a small force drawing them together.
Plasma actuators are a type of actuator currently being developed for aerodynamic flow control. Plasma actuators impart force in a similar way to ionocraft.
A dielectric-barrier-discharge (DBD) plasma is used to induce a flow close to a surface for flow control. The DBD plasma actuator consists of two electrodes separated by a dielectric barrier. When a high voltage alternating current is applied, the air close to the exposed electrode is ionized. On the surface the ions collide with the surrounding neutral air particles so as to transfer their momentum to the air. Therefore, the plasma actuator can be thought of as imposing a localized body force to the surrounding air. The aim of using this electric wind is in most cases to accelerate the airflow tangentially and very close to the actuator's surface in order to modify the local airflow profile. The main advantage of this process is that it directly converts electric energy into kinetic energy without involving moving mechanical parts.
The Wingless Electromagnetic Air Vehicle (WEAV) is a heavier than air flight system in development for NASA at the University of Florida. The aircraft uses electrodes on its undercarriage in order to ionize air, and it then propels the resultant plasma using electromagnets. The high pressure zone created underneath the aircraft is consequently used to create thrust for propulsion and stability.
This invention relates to improved heavier-than-air aircraft, and more specifically to structures which are capable of either hovering or moving in any direction at high altitudes by means of ionic discharge.
Such Ionocraft may serve as platforms which would be stationed above the earth for long periods of tinge and serve other purposes as will be explained below. The output power from microwave generators, such as magnetrons, coupled with high power capacity amplifier tubes may be beamed to the Ionocraft while airborne or the craft may carry its own power supply.
A principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel Ionocraft with space provided by the structure, preferably at the center of the craft, for installation of electronic equipment, and for the power plant, and crew where used.
Gravitomagnetism is produced by stars and planets when they spin. "It's similar in form to the magnetic field produced by a spinning ball of charge". Replace charge with mass, and magnetism becomes gravitomagnetism.
Gravitoelectromagnetism, abbreviated GEM, refers to a set of formal analogies between the equations for electromagnetism and relativistic gravitation; specifically: between Maxwell's field equations and an approximation, valid under certain conditions, to the Einstein field equations for general relativity. Gravitomagnetism is a widely used term referring specifically to the kinetic effects of gravity, in analogy to the magnetic effects of moving electric charge. The most common version of GEM is valid only far from isolated sources, and for slowly moving test particles. The analogy and equations were first published in 1893, before general relativity, by Oliver Heaviside as a separate theory expanding Newton's law, differing essentially only by some small factors.
NASA's Gravity Probe B spacecraft left Earth in search of a force of nature
In this paper, the aerodyn amic phenomena still faced by aeronautic industry have been first presented and the different control techniques or devices already used or tested in the past have been described. Then, a special focus has been put on plasma actuators. These actuators know recently (for about ten year s) a very intense interest due to their fast response and their simple and robust conception. The development of such actuators has been possible with new technologies in plasma generation and flow analysis now available as well as a better understanding of electrical discharges behavior.
Asymmetrical Capacitor Thrusters have been proposed as a source of propulsion. For
over eighty years it has been known that a thrust results when a high voltage is placed across an asymmetrical capacitor, when that voltage causes a leakage current to flow. However, there is surprisingly little experimental or theoretical data explaining this effect. This paper reports on the results of tests of several Asymmetrical Capacitor Thrusters (ACTs). The thrust they produce has been measured for various voltages, polarities, and ground configurations and their radiation in the VHF range has been recorded. A simple model for the thrust was developed. The model assumed the thrust was due to electrostatic forces on the leakage current flowing across the capacitor. It was further assumed that this current involves charged ions which undergo multiple collisions with air. These collisions transfer momentum. All of the measured data was consistent with this model. Many configurations were tested, and the results suggest general design principles for ACTs to be used for a variety of purposes.
There is an electromagnetic factor of correlation between gravitational mass and inertial mass, which in specific electromagnetic conditions, can be reduced, made negative and increased in numerical value. This means that gravitational forces can be reduced, inverted and intensified by means of electromagnetic fields. Such control of the gravitational interaction can have a lot of practical applications. For example, a new concept of spacecraft and aerospace flight arises from the possibility of the electromagnetic control of the gravitational mass. The novel spacecraft called Gravitational Spacecraft possibly will change the paradigm of space flight and transportation in general. Here, its operation principles and flight possibilities, it will be described. Also it will be shown that other devices based on gravity control, such as the Gravitational Motor and the Quantum Transceivers, can be used in the spacecraft, respectively, for Energy Generation and Telecommunications.
