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Air Torus Hoverboard

  1. Jan 26, 2008 #1
    Hi everyone.

    As you may know, it is possible to create a torus or toroidal vortex of air. Some toys such as the air zooka create a torus of air that travels across a room to knock down a light object.

    Do you think it is possible to create a device that produces a continuous torus of air? Obviously you would need a continous flow of air would could be produced by a fan. That way the air torus is sustained and keeps going.

    Then when you have this air torus going , do you think it would be possible to float an
    object on top of the torus? Like a hoverboard? The bottom of the air torus would push against the ground, and the top would support the bottom of the board. So the air torus would stay in the same place.

    It may not work. Because the torus would not have sufficient strength to hold up the board. But then an air torus or smoke ring seems to have a self sufficiency that keeps its geometry in place, at least for a short time.

    You could have a hoverboard with two air torus generators blowing the air torus or torii down on to the ground, supporting the board. The air torus generators would consist of a fan blowing air throught a nozzle or simply a hole. There may be more effective ways of generating an air torus.

    I would be interested to hear what you think of this idea.
  2. jcsd
  3. Jan 26, 2008 #2
    The problem I see with attempting to generate linearly moving, congruent tori of air is similar for their circular cross-sections: cycloidal superposition is generally discontinuous for all but an infinitesimal of points. Maintaining tori would be possible for those with sustained cycloidal symmetries (expansion, rotation, etc.) and those whose cycloidal amplitudes coincide periodically.
  4. Jan 26, 2008 #3
    Thanks for the reply.

    So do you mean that the tendency of the air particles to maintain a torus is fairly weak?
    The coanda effect might be helpful in directing the air particles.
  5. Jan 26, 2008 #4
    A fluid torus tends to maintain its inertia, as you mentioned. So would a series of undulating tori, where each matches the boundary condition of the one preceding and following.

    As for attaining a fluid torus continuous in space and time, modeled by a near-infinite fluid cylinder with finite walls, it may be dynamically impossible. A suitable approximation might be an individual toroidal fluid disturbance directed into a truncated cone of deceasing diameter, but this assumes an extension to the device in question.

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