Elastic micro-fabricated surface layer for reducing turbulence and drag on an object while it moves through a fluid medium

Abstract

A surface for use in connection with an object in relative motion through a luid medium includes a plurality of surface elements arranged in rows on the surface, with surface elements of each row being arranged generally orthogonal to the direction of relative motion of the object in a medium. Each surface element includes means defining a cavity, the means including a bottom surface layer, sidewalls, and an upper lip supported along an upstream edge in a cantilevered manner and extending in a downstream direction over the cavity to define a gap permitting fluid communication between the medium and the cavity. The lip is flexible so as to facilitate deflection in response to differentials between pressure inside the cavity and outside the cavity. The cavities of the surface elements in each row are interconnected by means of passageways thereby to facilitate fluid communication therebetween. It is believed that, in the surface layer, in response to local variations in pressure of the medium over surface elements in a row, due to the passage of vortices overhead, the lips of the surface elements deflect to permit equalization of fluid pressure between the medium proximate the surface elements and the respective cavity. The passageways interconnecting the cavities of the surface elements facilitate equalization of pressure between cavities of surface elements in each row, thereby reducing pressure variations, and thereby also reducing turbulence of the medium around the object.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.