Air travel hasn’t changed a great deal in the last few decades. Sure, planes are a lot bigger now, and you can stream live sport to your seat, but the basic framework remains largely unchanged, even in the new generation of aircraft from the likes of Boeing and Airbus.
But in the future, the way we jet around the globe could be very different. Forward-thinking engineers are working on new technologies that will change how planes are propelled, how they manoeuvre, and could even make air travel less likely to make you ill.
“It’s really exciting stuff”
Modern planes change speed and direction using mechanical flaps to manipulate the flow of air over their wings. That could change in future. Researchers at BAE Systems and the University of Manchester are working on a project called Magma – a first of its kind, jet-powered drone which will use a unique blown-air system instead.
The new concept will remove the need for complex moving parts, reducing weight and maintenance costs, and allowing aircraft to be quieter and more efficient in future.
There are two technologies at play here. The first, called wing circulation control, takes air from the aircraft’s engine and blows it at supersonic speed through the trailing edge of the wing to provide control over the aircraft’s lift. The second, called fluidic thrust vectoring, uses blown air to deflect the exhaust and change the direction of the aircraft.
“The technologies we are developing with the University of Manchester will make it possible to design cheaper, higher performance, next generation aircraft,” says Clyde Warsop, engineering fellow at BAE Systems.
Bill Crowther, a senior academic and leader of the Magma project at the University of Manchester says the trials are “an important step forward in our efforts to explore adaptable airframes”. “What we are seeking to do through this programme is truly ground-breaking.”
Sean Tuling, an applied aerodynamicist at the University of the West of England who is not involved in the work, says it’s “really exciting stuff”. “High lift devices take a lot of effort, time money and weight,” he continues. “If we can start replacing some of those components we start saving weight and the aircraft business is all about weight.”
The challenge, says Tuling, has been to create systems that don’t hamper engine performance. “You need the air to come from somewhere,” he explains. “If you cap something off the engine it means you lose engine power. A lot of these fluidic devices in the past have taken too much energy from the engine to be worthwhile.”
Bladeless propulsion
BAE Systems aren’t the only company investigating how to use air to move vehicles through the skies. At the opposite end of the spectrum, from the defence giant’s £1bn annual research and development budget, is Michigan’s John Mohyi, a self-taught inventor with designs on building safe and affordable flying cars.
The 3D renderings of Mohyi’s circular drones look like science fiction. They use an invention called ‘ducted counter-vortex technology’ that manipulates air and converts it into thrust without the use of blades or propellers.
Mohyi says his invention is more efficient than existing solutions, and safer because there are no spinning blades. This, he says, could allow it to be used for delivery drones that can move safely around people in cities, or hover cars that could float a few inches above regular traffic or switch seamlessly between water, land and sky.
“We should stop thinking about flying cars as just aerial vehicles but as air, land and sea vehicles,” said Mohyi when presenting his idea at a conference in London earlier this year. “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.”
Although Mohyi is hopeful of having his technology up and running in unmanned drones by the end of next year, and BAE Systems are running field tests in their own drones, it will be a while before this technology comes anywhere near passenger aircraft – probably decades.
That’s because of the intense safety regulations surrounding any new technology applied to commercial flights. Tuling points out that it took around 40 years for composite materials to make the leap from research into actually being used in planes, and he expects a similar wait for this new air-blown technology – although it could potentially have applications in areas like the military, where there’s more of an appetite for risk.
However, one invention that also manipulates air could be coming to a plane journey near you a lot sooner, and it could even stop you getting ill. Incredibly, it’s as simple as a cheap piece of plastic and a few screws – and it was invented by a high school student.
Healthy flying
Planes are incubators for germs – air swirls around, carrying pathogens from one passenger to the next. If someone sneezes, those germs flow around the plane in seconds. During the Sars outbreak in 2002 and 2003, one patient managed to infect 22 other people with the virus during a three-hour flight.
In 2015, Vancouver student Raymond Wang spotted that statistic, and thought he could do something about it. He started investigating what actually happens when air circulates around a plane.
Wang taught himself fluid dynamics, and created a model of an aircraft on his home computer – simulating how airs move around. Then he came up with a solution – a cheap plastic fin that redirects the flow of air from ducts in the ceiling, creating curtains of air that come down between each passenger.
“With the traditional cabin, what’s happening is you’ve got two large, turbulent swirls,” Wang says. “When someone sneezes, there’s a mess everywhere. This way, we’re able to provide fresh breathing air for all the passengers, without the window seat passenger having to breathe in something that the guy next to him just breathed out.”
Wang’s invention – called the Global Inlet Director – can be fitted to an entire plane overnight for just $1,000. Now at Harvard, he’s in the process of patenting and commercializing his invention – and he’s just one of the visionary engineers pulling new ideas for flight and the future out of thin air.
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.