This article reports on a flight experiment demonstrating the ability to control the net electrical charge of a small unmanned aircraft using ion emission from a corona discharge. The charging mechanism is based on the advection of ions produced by the corona discharge, leaving charge of the opposite polarity on the aircraft. An onboard high voltage power supply of up to ±\pm15 kV was remotely operated to control the level of charging. The high voltage terminal of the power supply was connected to two thin corona wires placed above the aft surface of the wing in the spanwise direction, whereas the low voltage terminal was connected to the conductive airframe. Using this strategy, electric potentials of up to −30 and +23 kV relative to the environment were acquired by the aircraft, using positive and negative corona discharges, respectively. The study addresses the dependencies with power supply bias and wind speed. Possible applications of net charge control include risk reduction of aircraft-triggered lightning strikes, as explored by the authors in prior work, as well as a means of compensating for precipitation static and other sources of charging.

中文翻译：

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利用电晕放电控制飞机净电荷的飞行演示


本文报道了一项飞行实验，该实验展示了利用电晕放电离子发射来控制小型无人机净电荷的能力。充电机制基于电晕放电产生的离子平流，在飞机上留下相反极性的电荷。远程操作高达 ±pm15 kV 的车载高压电源来控制充电水平。电源的高压端子连接到沿翼展方向放置在机翼后表面上方的两根细电晕线，而低压端子连接到导电机身。采用这种策略，飞机分别使用正电晕放电和负电晕放电获得相对于环境高达-30 kV和+23 kV的电势。该研究解决了电源偏差和风速的依赖性。净电荷控制的可能应用包括降低飞机引发雷击的风险，正如作者在之前的工作中所探索的那样，以及补偿降水静电和其他充电源的方法。