Abstract
My technical project was focused on the development and testing of a novel magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) drive. MHD drives are a type of marine propulsion that operates by crossing a magnetic field with an electric field. When these fields point in perpendicular directions, they apply a force, called the Lorentz force, on charged particles. This means that MHD drives apply this Lorentz force to salt water. They have the potential to propel sea vessels with zero moving parts. The biggest application for a technology like this is in stealth, because it makes no noise while operating. Through many iterations and redesigns, my group developed a working MHD drive. Our MHD drive generated a thrust of about 0.5 Newtons. While our design was relatively small, this is an extremely small amount of thrust. Our design used permanent magnets, which are pieces of metal that generate a magnetic field. While these were great for our small-scale design, it is clear to us that the only way to generate a strong enough magnetic field is with superconducting magnets. Those magnets come with their own problems, as they need extensive cooling systems to make sure they do not overheat. Another issue we found with MHD drives is that the electrodes cause electrolysis to occur. This causes the generation of small bubbles within the MHD drive. These then get pushed through with the seawater, leaving a small trail of bubbles behind the vehicle. This problem can be solved with specific types of anodes that can trap these bubbles, but they are very expensive and difficult to get. My capstone group concluded that, because of these issues, the development of MHD drives under the conditions we had is not feasible. We have faith that with much more time and money, MHD drives could be an incredible new technology, specifically for governmental applications in stealth marine vessels.
My STS project was focused on the history of MHD drives. I have compiled instances of research into MHD drives starting back in the 1960’s all the way up to the current day. In the early stages of MHD drive development, the researchers did not know exactly what MHD drives could be useful for. Some of them predicted that MHD technology could provide higher efficiency than traditional propellers, while others already saw their potential in stealth applications. Despite these differing ideas, almost every article I saw led to the same conclusion. They all agreed that, while MHD technology could be extremely useful, the current technologies that are available simply are not capable of supporting full-scale MHD drive implementation. In the earlier days, the technology was nowhere near being advanced enough for the goals they had. Even now, despite there being clear benefits to using MHD technology, these benefits could not outweigh the cost that it would take to develop and run a vehicle propelled using only MHD drives. The most recent research has been focused on the governmental applications for MHD drives. When developing new technologies for use in wars, the focus is on developing new technologies that are better than the enemy’s. As such, the first country to figure out how to implement MHD technology will have an extremely useful advantage in stealthy marine vehicles. So, the US government is funding a lot of research into MHD drives. Some of this research has resulted in math models that prove the capability of MHD technology. Still, the technology that could generate the numbers predicted in the math models has not been developed. Many researchers hold the belief that these advanced technologies could still be developed, and many of them are actively working towards developing those needed technologies.
My technical project took place over the same time that I was writing this paper. Having these two projects in conjunction meant that I was able to apply any knowledge I gained from past research to my ongoing project. Every paper I read gave me more and more knowledge on the topic of MHD drives. I was able to figure out what processes would be helpful in our MHD drive development, and what things might make it harder to achieve our goals. While this research did not necessarily influence any large decisions for our project, it did help in some smaller key decisions that we would have had trouble with otherwise. Additionally, by having my own research project into MHD drives, I was able to better understand some of the decisions the researchers have made in the past, as well as the conclusions that they reached.
Notes
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering
Technical Advisor: Quinn, Daniel
STS Advisor: Earle, Joshua
Technical Team Members: Kellylyn Brinkac, Cameron Dearman, Jack Finning, Will Hixson, Tyler Kaczmarek, William McGee, Samantha Ritchie, Amitav Suchdev, Albert Tang
