Effects of Velocity and Other Physical Variables on the Currents and Potentials Generated by Radioactive Collectors in Electric Field Measurements

Abstract

Research dealing with the use of the radioactive collector as applied to electrostatic stabilization of remotely piloted aircraft described by Hill (1972) has lead to an improved analysis of the radioactive collector. An expression for the current generated per unit width of ionizer as a function of the radioactive source strength, the wind velocity, and the electric field intensity is derived and experimentally verified. The analysis of the radioactive probe used in the potential mode and the resulting equivalent circuit show that the probe attains the correct potential and is independent of the source strength and air velocity provided the geometry of the collector is symmetric and meandering of the conductive plume does not occur.