Active control of surface drag
AssigneeThe Invention Science Fund I, LLC
InventorsRoderick A. Hyde, Nathan P. Myhrvold, Lowell L. Wood, Jr., Alistair K. Chan, Clarence T. Tegreene
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Abstract
A system and method is described generally for deforming a surface of a body to alter a fluid flow in order to change the characteristics of the fluid flow about the body.
Claims22
A method of altering fluid flow about a body moving relative to a fluid, comprising:
- providing a body having a first surface, the first surface actuated by a first set of one or more actuators;
- exposing the first surface of the body to the fluid, the first surface extending in at least a first direction and a second direction, the first direction being orthogonal to the second direction, the second direction being substantially orthogonal to the direction of fluid flow, and the second direction being parallel to the surface;
- generating more than one deformation of the first surface of the body using the first set of one or more actuators, wherein the more than one deformation includes a series of variations propagating in a direction tangential to the surface and at a non-zero angle with the direction of fluid flow relative to the body;
- and
- generating more than one deformation of the first surface of the body using the first set of one or more actuators, wherein the more than one deformation includes a series of variations propagating in a direction tangential to the surface and along the direction of fluid flow relative to the body.
A method of altering fluid flow about a surface, the surface being defined by at least a first direction and a second direction orthogonal to the first direction, the fluid flow direction having a projection parallel to the first direction and orthogonal to the second direction and the first and second directions being tangentially parallel to the surface, comprising:
- providing a surface configurable with one or more actuators for deforming the surface;
- coupling to the surface at least one actuator capable of deforming the surface;
- detecting at least one physical state based on a signal from at least one sensor;
- and
- responsive to the detecting at least one physical state, controlling the at least one actuator based on the signal to create deformations which propagate with a velocity having components of both the first and second directions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.