Company Profile
Electrofluidsystems is specialized in developing ai swarm controlled flying wing aircrafts and airships with innovative plasma flow control and novel airbreathing plasma propulsion systems for future transport and ISR applications. The near-term vision for 2021-2022 is to have small package and ISR drones with 1.11 - 1.66 m wingspan:
1. PlasmaFalcon 1.11 with 6 - 11 kg maximum take-off weight (MTOW) and
2. PlasmaRay 1.11 with 11 - 18 kg MTOW in 2023.
The PlasmaRay 1.11 will also have variants with hydrogen (H2) fuel cell modules from Intelligent Energy to demonsrate zero carbon technologies as a 1:6 scale model for the futuristic air taxi concept H2PlasmaRay 6.66 with two passengers.
In 1996, Russian scientists announced that subsonic and supersonic aircraft drag drops dramatically (by as much as 30 per cent) by injecting plasma into the airstream in front of an aircraft. The plasma aerodynamic control effect is comparable with the spontaneous gas bubble injection used by living penguins during getting out of water. In the same manner ionized air or plasma - the fourth state of matter can effectively shoots out in front of the object upon which it is placed and punch a hole through the atmosphere. These were all topics which inspired Berkant Göksel to go ahead with plasma aerodynamics for 20 years now. Göksel worked on a literature study about plasma aerodynamics and proposed experiments during his pre-diploma in 1997.
In 1998, Göksel founded the Future Workshop Electrofluidsystems at Technical University Berlin (TUB) with the vision of developing plasma assisted flight vehicles for future generations. Over the years, Future Workshop Electrofluidsystems published several papers on sophisticated plasma aerospace applications and became a well-known promoter of interdisciplinary R&D activities among academic, industrial and government scientists.
In 2000, Göksel graduated as aerospace engineer (Dipl.-Ing.) from TUB and worked on experimental plasma flow control during his diploma thesis which received the highest grade.
From 2000-2003, Göksel worked as staff engineer in the Future Projects Division of Rolls-Royce Germany (RRD) and designed aerothermal cycles for advanced turbojet and turboprop engines nearby Berlin in Dahlewitz. In this positon he also assisted the division leader to define the future visions of RRD which were later published in a 2004 issue of the magazine of the Association of German Engineers (VDI). It was envisioned to realize plasma flow control in compressors and use plasma catalysis in combustors in the time horizon up to 2020. The vision for the time horizon beyond 2020 was an all-electric zero emission plasma propulsion system using nonlinear rotating electromagnetic fields.
In 2004, Göksel went back to university to study the basics for an electrostatic wave propulsion using polyphase plasma actuators without any moving parts. The feasibility study at TUB was fully funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The study was later continued with fundings from FESTO AG & Co. KG and resulted in the development of the world's first airship with atmospheric air plasma wave propulsion system (b-IONIC Airfish) in 2005.
In 2006, Göksel founded Electrofluidsystems Ltd. to promote plasma starter-kits to universities, research organizations and provide plasma systems engineering and consultancy to customers from industry and government worldwide.
In 2007, Electrofluidsystems Ltd. led the development of a new b-Ionic Airship of second generation shown in the youtube video above on the very right. The first two years were quite successful. First customers were USAF Academy, ONERA, WPAFB, Alenia Aermacchi, EADS Innovation Works to name a few from government and industry. Over 20 universities on four continents were trained to use plasma actuators in combination with highly miniaturized HV generators developed by Electrofluidsystems.
In 2008, the EU project PLASMAERO was initiated by Berkant Göksel from Electrofluidsystems Ltd. which invited a group of European customers to build a consortium for a new plasma aerodynamics project named PALERCo (Plasma Actuators for Lift Enhancement and Roll Control). Unfortunately, the consortium separated into two groups, a German-Italian and a French-British dominated consortium. The later one led by ONERA was the winning PLASMAERO. Our PALERCo proposal was rejected. It proposed a flying wing platform to demonstrate advanced plasma flow control technologies. The present Plasma Flyer UAS is just a scale model of the envisioned PALERCo demonstrator with its roots going back to Göksel's flying wing studies from 1998. Electrofluidsystems Ltd. became insolvent in 2010, the year when a second EU proposal regarding plasma jet propulsion named PLASMASOL was also rejected. But we have never given up to make dreams fly and just continued our work at university from 2010-2012.
In 2012, Electrofluidsystems was refounded as Ingenieurbüro (IB) Göksel (Engineering Office Göksel) to go back to its roots as Future Workshop Electrofluidsystems and to prepare the foundations for a new powerful startup comanpy named Electrofluidsystems GmbH & Co. KG.
From 2013-2019, IB Göksel Electrofluidsystems could already partly realize the Plasma Flyer and Plasma Jet Propulsion projects (see also for Scientific Publications & News) using own private venture funding acquired through income from engineering and consultancy work for industrial customers. Newly developed sliding discharge and magneto-plasma-actuators for flow control and propulsion will be applied on Plasma Flyer UAS aircraft and third generation Stingray shaped PLASMA RAY airship demonstrators.
In 2019, IB Göksel Electrofluidsystems started to lead a consortium named SWARMCHAIN to prepare a EU project submission for a new, highly sophisticated swarm autopilot. The team is composed by the best European university and startup leaders in the field of swarm and blockchain technology. It is also envisioned to prepare a new consortium to restart Project PLASMASOL after ten years in 2020.
PLASMASOL - Novel Air PLASMA Jet Propulsion For High-Altitude SOLar Flyer
Private and industrial investors are invited to contact us to form a legal entity like GmbH, Limited or LLC and go ahead to make dreams fly.
