Electric Air Jets Cut Down on Aircraft Drag 

At GE, engineers have been working on a new technology that will allow passengers to have a much more comfortable flight.  Not only will it reduce friction and turbulence on the plane, but it could also have big implications for fuel economy and turbine efficiency.

This technology, known as synthetic jet actuators (SJAs), involves minimal energy devices that have absolutely no moving parts.  They help to transform the shape of a wing or turbine blade by blowing puffs of air through small holes along the wing or turbine blade’s surface.  The SJAs speed up the air around the surface where friction occurs, allowing the wind to flow over the wing or blade in a much more efficient manner.more easily.

Due to the reduction in friction, an aircraft will be able to save more fuel in flight and passengers won’t feel the brunt of turbulence to the degree that they do now.  Not only that, but a turbine's ability to convert wind into electricity will be improved as well.

Seyed Saddoughi, Principal Engineer in Aero-Thermal & Mechanical Systems, who is also leading the development of the actuator, explains, “This device works like our lungs, by expanding and contracting a chamber in such a way that air is sucked in and ejected through a single hole.” He also notes that because there is no need for pumps requiring external flow, or fans with moving parts, the design requires little energy, and generates almost no noise. “The device is lightweight and very simple in operation, with minimal power usage.”

While its intended use is for airplanes, a version of the device has caught the eye of a major manufacturer of cooling devices for electronics and computers.  The modified version, about the size of a credit card, is appealing not only because of its size, but because it operates silently and uses minimal energy. 

And Saddoughi believes that the full potential of SJAs is still not yet discovered.  His research team is working on the same device that can work underwater.  Through their experiments they’ve found that the device could possibly decrease the drag of ships as they sail across the open waters, much like the planes in the sky. 

“These devices energize the flow close to surfaces to reduce losses and increase the overall efficiency of the machines,” Saddoughi says. “Synthetic jet actuators give us active control of flow over these surfaces. We can manipulate flow intelligently to gain better performance from our machines.”