Would this mechanical apparatus be a new means of creating aerodynamic lift? I recently came up with a conceptual idea for creating aerodynamic lift which would use an unconventional centrifugal impeller. I would like to know if this conceptual design of mine is something that has already been built and tested in the past.
I have emailed this design over to some aerospace historical societies and aerospace institutes inquiring if they know if this particular design, or something very similar to it, has already been built and tested by an aerospace company in the past. They replied back saying they had not seen this particular design. So, I thought it would be worth asking the Aviation community on Stack Exchange if anyone has already seen this particular design.
I have created some CAD drawings (shown below) to illustrate what this mechanical apparatus would probably look like. Its primary components would be a centrifugal impeller with two rows of blades, a motor to turn the impeller, and a curved panel which would be fastened to the fuselage or to a wing of an aircraft. I want to point out that the curved panel would not rotate along with the impeller, rather the centrifugal impeller would rotate around the curved panel.
This mechanical apparatus would have a simple working principle. The centrifugal impeller would have an inner row of blades and an outer row of blades. The inner row of blades should create high air pressure along the bottom surface of the curved panel and the outer row of blades should create low air pressure over the top surface of the curved panel. This should result in aerodynamic lift.
EDIT
I am thinking now that it may be better that the outer row of blades be backward-curved in order to reduce turbulence and to maximize the static air pressure drop along the top surface of the curved panel.



Would this mechanical apparatus be a new means of creating aerodynamic lift?
Yes, this device would produce some thrust. If oriented properly, this thrust could be used to lift a weight. But it would be extremely inefficient when compared to a standard airfoil, such as a wing or helicopter blade.
What you've basically created is a centrifugal pump without a case. Air would enter the &quot;front&quot; of the device (assuming the motor is the &quot;back&quot;) just like a regular centrifugal pump, but without a case, it would be sprayed in all directions, including at an angle out of the &quot;front&quot;. The curved panel would partially block the radial flow of air upward, creating a net upward force. But the fact that air exits at all angles, not just straight down, means that the various flows would partially cancel each other. What's worse, a lot of the air mass that emerges from the &quot;front&quot; would be drawn back into the incoming air stream, which would consume some of the motor's power but wouldn't contribute to the net thrust at all.
In short, I would be very surprised if this device could match even 1% of the performance of a simple ducted fan of the same power rating.
It's kind of hard to explain what I mean in words, so, here, have some bad, hastily-created images instead: