Main Focus of Research

Gas-based microfluidic systems are used in the field of active flow control devices (AFC). The development focuses on fluidic and mechanical actuators, the electronical control and the integration into complete systems, such as aerodynamic surfaces, rotor blades of a wind turbine or as a special part in the automotive industry for reducing air resistance during the driving mode. Fluidic actuators are being used more and more in various areas of science and technology and will continue to be the subject of intense, experimental and numerical studies in research institutes due to the maximization of resource use.The scientists of Fraunhofer ENAS develop different fluidic actuators for the active flow control. Examples for this type of actuator are on the one hand synthetic jet actuators (SJA), which are working without any pressure supply and on the other hand there are pulsed jet actuators (PJA) which switch pressurized air to achieve a pulsed flow. In this case the focus is set to application-specific requirements, as well as the consideration and implementation of new concepts in order to make the actuators more compact, efficient and integrable.The development encompasses the entire lifecycle, starting with simulations, through the design and characterization of the first prototypes and finally the integration into the application-specific environment.