Plasma actuator for vehicle aerodynamic drag reduction

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9821862-B2
Application number	US-201615099917-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2016
Priority date	Apr 15, 2016
Publication date	Nov 21, 2017
Grant date	Nov 21, 2017

Abstract

A plasma actuator includes a first electrode disposed on a substrate, covered by a dielectric layer, and a second electrode disposed on the dielectric layer. In operation, the plasma actuator creates a plasma region, altering air flowing over the actuator. The plasma actuator in various embodiments: has no moving parts, helps to improve fuel economy by reducing aerodynamic drag, improves vehicle stability control under severe unsteady flow environments, reduces wind noise around a vehicle on which the actuator is used, and reduces emission and CO2 foot print through the fuel economy improvement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A plasma-actuator system, for controlling aerodynamics of a vehicle, comprising multiple pairs of opposing plasma actuators positioned at lateral positions on an underside of the vehicle, wherein each pair of opposing plasma actuators comprises two electrodes, and the multiple pairs comprise:
a first pair of opposing plasma actuators positioned adjacent a left underbody strake of the vehicle, between a left fore wheel and a left aft wheel of the vehicle to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the left strake;
a second pair of opposing plasma actuators positioned adjacent a right underbody strake of the vehicle, between a right fore wheel and a right aft wheel of the vehicle to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the right strake;
a third pair of opposing plasma actuators positioned beneath a vehicle chassis, adjacent the left fore wheel of the vehicle to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the left fore wheel; and
a fourth pair of opposing plasma actuators positioned beneath the vehicle chassis, adjacent the right fore wheel of the vehicle to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the right fore wheel.

2. A plasma-actuator system, for controlling aerodynamics of a vehicle, comprising:
a first pair of opposing plasma actuators positioned at a left lateral position of the vehicle, beneath a vehicle chassis to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing disturbance of air flow adjacent the left lateral position; and
a second pair of opposing plasma actuators positioned at a right lateral position, beneath the vehicle chassis to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing disturbance of air flow adjacent the right lateral position;
wherein each of the plasma actuators comprises two electrodes.

3. The plasma-actuator system of claim 2 , wherein:
the first pair of opposing plasma actuators is positioned adjacent a left underbody strake of the vehicle, between a left fore wheel and a left aft wheel to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the left underbody strake; and
the second pair of opposing plasma actuators is positioned adjacent a right underbody strake of the vehicle, between a right fore wheel and a right aft wheel to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the right underbody strake.

4. The plasma-actuator system of claim 2 , wherein:
the first pair of opposing plasma actuators is positioned adjacent a left wheel of the vehicle to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the left wheel; and
the second pair of opposing plasma actuators is positioned adjacent a right wheel of the vehicle to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the right wheel.

5. The plasma-actuator system of claim 2 , wherein:
the first pair of opposing plasma actuators is positioned adjacent a left edge of the vehicle, between a left fore wheel and a left aft wheel to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the left edge between the left fore and left aft wheels; and
the second pair of opposing plasma actuators is positioned adjacent a right edge of the vehicle, between a right fore wheel and a right aft wheel to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the right edge between the right fore and right aft wheels.

6. The plasma-actuator system of claim 2 , wherein each of:
the first pair of opposing plasma actuators is arranged in a first curved shape; and
the second pair of opposing plasma actuators is arranged in a second curved shape.

7. The plasma-actuator system of claim 6 , wherein:
the first pair of opposing plasma actuators is positioned adjacent a left wheel of the vehicle to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the left wheel;
the second pair of opposing plasma actuators is positioned adjacent a right wheel of the vehicle to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the right wheel;
the first curved shape has a concave side facing the left wheel and a convex side facing a fore-aft center line of the vehicle; and
the second curved shape has a concave side facing the right wheel and a convex side facing the fore-aft center line of the vehicle.

8. The plasma-actuator system of claim 2 , wherein:
the first pair of opposing plasma actuators is positioned adjacent a left edge of the vehicle between a left fore wheel and a left aft wheel to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the left edge of the vehicle;
the second pair of opposing plasma actuators is positioned adjacent a right edge of the vehicle between a right fore wheel and a right aft wheel to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing air disturbance adjacent the right edge;
the first pair of opposing plasma actuators are arranged in a first shape having a convex side facing the left edge of the vehicle and a concave side facing a fore-aft center line of the vehicle; and
the second pair of opposing plasma actuators are arranged in a second shape having a convex side facing the right edge of the vehicle and a concave side facing the fore-aft center line of the vehicle.

9. The plasma-actuator system of claim 2 , further comprising a third pair of opposing plasma actuators positioned at a rear position of the vehicle, beneath the vehicle chassis to, in operation of the vehicle, to improve vehicle stability by generating a downward air flow.

10. The plasma-actuator system of claim 2 , further comprising a third pair of opposing plasma actuators positioned at a front position of the vehicle, beneath the vehicle chassis to, in operation of the vehicle, improve vehicle stability by generating a downward air flow.

11. The plasma-actuator system of claim 2 , further comprising:
a third pair of opposing plasma actuators positioned at a left front fender of the vehicle to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing flow separation adjacent the left front fender; and
a fourth pair of opposing plasma actuators positioned at a right front fender of the vehicle to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing flow separation adjacent the right front fender.

12. The plasma-actuator system of claim 2 , further comprising a top-side plasma actuator positioned adjacent a rear vehicle window to, in operation of the vehicle, reduce aerodynamic drag on the vehicle by reducing flow separation adjacent the rear vehicle window.

13. The plasma-actuator system of claim 2 , further comprising:
a first plasma actuator positioned at a left rear edge of the vehicle to, in operation of the vehicle, improve vehicle stability; and
a second plasma actuator positioned at a right rear edge of the vehicle to, in operation of the vehicle, improve vehicle stability.

14. The plasma-actuator system of claim 13 , wherein:
the first plasma actuator is con

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Han Taeyoung
• Khalighi Bahram
• Chen Kuo-Huey

Classifications

• B62D35/02

  Streamlining the undersurfaces {(B62D35/005, B62D35/007, B62D35/008 take precedence)} · CPC title

• Y02T10/82

  Elements for improving aerodynamics · CPC title

• B64C1/0009

  Aerodynamic aspects · CPC title

• B62D35/00 Primary

  Vehicle bodies characterised by streamlining · CPC title

• B62D37/02 Primary

  by aerodynamic means · CPC title