Aerospace engineers are always trying to figure out how to improve the efficiency of aircraft, reduce the drag and improve performance. Each incremental increase also comes with it a decrease in percentage or improvements in future changes, modifications and techniques. This is similar as well in racing cars, as every time you increase your quarter mile time, you need to shed 100 pounds of weight or increase horsepower. Eventually either your engine would be so big that it no longer makes sense or the materials needed to make the car lighter are so costly, you may as well forget it. There are ways to improve aircraft to use the airflow in better ways to improve lift and performance to achieve the proper objectives. One thought is using the exhaust of a propulsion system to create vortexes on top of the surface of the wings of an aircraft. Using a special system, which would be post exhaust, which would slightly modify flows to make many small vortexes across the top of the surface of the craft. This concept could also be easily translated to be used on race cars, submarines or even Mars unmanned aerial surveillance vehicles, which record, transmit and collect information for NASA or to help assist the Rovers on the surface with vital directional information. With thinner atmospheres staying aloft and wing loading become more critical a task. Vortex or eddy airflows spiraling across the top surface of an aircraft, car or UAV maybe able to achieve quite a bit in the way of efficiency. Think on this in 2006. |
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