On the use of an ionic pump in a convector heater

The possible use of an ionic pump in order to increase the air flux in a convector heater is examined. The functioning of such an electro-aerodynamic heater is modeled. The distribution of space charge injected by a set of point electrodes and the influence of the temperature of the heating resistor on back emission and breakdown voltage are more particularly studied. The results on a test cell and on a prototype agree with the prediction of a mean flow velocity varying as the square root of the product Id of the current I and the gap d of the pumping device. The problems met in practical application are shortly discussed.