The Problem Wind Leaves Behind
Rotor downwash can remove bulk, loose, and mechanically mobilisable dust without water or surface contact. With Ionised AIr™, a second layer is addressed: fine particles that are no longer governed mainly by gravity or ordinary mechanical displacement.
Below roughly 30 micrometres, surface forces become increasingly important. Van der Waals attraction, electrostatic effects, humidity history, contact geometry, and particle-particle cohesion can allow fine material to remain attached even after larger dust has been cleared.
The result can be a residual fine film: visually subtle, optically significant, and harder to remove by airflow alone. Ionised AIr™ is designed for that gap.
Ions generated on or near a rotor-equipped platform are entrained in the drone’s own downwash and delivered to the surface as part of the same working medium that already performs cleaning.
The rotor downwash does two things at once: it carries ions toward the particle-surface interface, and it provides the aerodynamic shear to mobilise and clear material once adhesion has been modified.
Delivered ions may reduce charge-sensitive adhesion enough for the rotor flow already present to cross a removal threshold it previously could not reach. Bipolar ion delivery allows the architecture to operate across mixed or unknown dust charge states without assuming a single favourable polarity.
Ion delivery may also affect particles once they have been lifted. By modifying charge-sensitive interactions during the airflow pass, it can reduce re-adhesion to the cleaned surface.
Where It Applies
The same charge-sensitive adhesion that can limit airflow-only cleaning on PV glass may also occur wherever fine mineral dust, aerosols, or surface films accumulate on exposed infrastructure in arid, high-particulate environments.
Desert Photovoltaics (PV):
fine dust films persisting on module glass after wind or bulk airflow cleaning in water-scarce regions.
Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) & Heliostats:
optical haze on reflective mirrors where specular reflection is hypersensitive to fine particles and contact cleaning risks surface abrasion.
Greenhouse Glass & Film:
aerosol, dust, and biological residues that may survive bulk cleaning passes.
Sensor Surfaces & Instrument Optics:
field environments where fine-film degradation is mission-critical.
Extraterrestrial Surfaces:
electrostatically active fine dust in low-gravity, zero-liquid, non-contact environments.
Intellectual Property
Building on the foundation of the patented AIr™ method, including US10046857B2 and international counterparts, the Ionised AIr™ architecture and its integrations are covered by a dedicated family of patent applications.
Ionised AIr™ is currently advancing through empirical validation for next-generation waterless cleaning systems.
→ Read the scientific paper
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