Flow and force inducement using micron size dielectric barrier discharge actuators

Micron size dielectric barrier discharge actuators, designed for minimal footprint area and weight penalty, show a wall jet up to 2.0 m/s consuming 15 W/m of electrode. A torsional balance measures force up to 3 mN/m of electrode and demonstrates equivalent "thrust effectiveness" (induced force/power) to macroscale actuators. Compared with reported macroscale data, the microscale actuator shows a 31% increase in energy conversion efficiency. Per unit actuator mass, both the force and the velocity induced by microscale actuators show an order of magnitude (22.1 and 18.5 times, respectively) increase over macroscale actuators, making them suitable for distributed flow control applications.