BOHR International Journal of Engineering 2022, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 33–36 DOI: 10.54646/bije.2022.07 www.bohrpub.com RESEARCH PAPER Design of power supply and EHD system for ion-propulsion drone Patil Rushikesh * Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Chandigarh University, Punjab, India *Correspondence: Patil Rushikesh, rishipatil7007@gmail.com Received: 22 August 2022; Accepted: 02 September 2022; Published: 15 September 2022 An initial preparation stage for the design of an ion-propulsion drone with no moving parts is presented in this study. Ion-propulsion drone technology is still not significantly mature; however, the technology has the potential to bring about evolution in the drone and aerospace industries. An essential part of the system is to generate a high-voltage (HV) DC power supply in order to propel the drone. This study presents the design of a power supply circuit to generate a HV DC supply system along with the design of electrohydrodynamics is presented in this study. Keywords: ion propulsion, electrohydrodynamics, eVTOL, UAV, drone 1. Introduction Ion-propulsion drone is a type of unmanned aerial vehicle that uses electrohydrodynamics (EHD) to create ionic wind to propel the drone (1). The very first ioncraft was able to manifest a considerable performance by lifting the power supply; the experiment was demonstrated by Krauss (2). A tech startup called “Undefined Technologies” based in Florida has successfully tested their first eVTOL vehicle using ionic propulsion in April 2021, followed by a second test in December 2021. The amount of thrust generated by ion engines is not significant as compared to other propulsion systems, although they have a high specific impulse, which makes them ideal for space propulsion (3). The most common method used in order to generate ionic wind is electrical or corona discharge (4). The corona discharge is effectively stable at small scales in the atmosphere. It consists of two asymmetrical electrodes called the emitter and collector, in which a potential difference is applied across both the electrodes. A large DC voltage supply is given to the emitter while the collector is grounded; the large potential gradient causes the air molecules to be ionized around the emitter; these ionized particles then race toward the collector. In this process, the transfer of momentum takes place when ionized particles collide with air molecules that accelerate airflow, resulting in ionic wind. The schematic depiction of the process is shown in Figure 1. A simple physical model of an EHD thruster is shown in Figure 2. This study is further divided into four categories: literature review, design of power supply and EHD thruster, future scope, and conclusion. 2. Literature review As mentioned earlier, “Undefined Technologies” made a breakthrough in the development of ion-propulsion drone that showed magnificent improvement in ion-powered flight. Furthermore, they are developing their first product, called “Silent Ventus,” which promises to reduce the noise level of drones below 70 dB. The current prototype was able to stay in the atmosphere for more than 2 min with a noise level near 85 dB. They further promised to reduce this noise level below 70 dB. Recently, in September 2022, they carried out a critical flight test with an endurance of 4 min and 30 s; during this flight, the ioncraft manifested higher efficiency, flight performance beyond steady-state conditions, and a noise level below 75 dB. They further aim to achieve a flight time of 15 min or more with noise levels below 70 dB. The 33