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Aircraft Anti-Icing System

There are several different types of aircraft ice protection systems. Pneumatic de-icing boots use inflatable rubber chambers on the leading edges of wings and stabilizers. When inflated and deflated rapidly, they break the bond between ice and the aircraft. Electro-thermal systems use resistive circuits embedded in wings to generate heat and melt ice. Bleed air systems route hot air from jet engines through wings and tail surfaces to prevent ice accumulation. Electro-mechanical systems use actuators underneath wings to induce shock waves that dislodge ice. Hybrid systems combine electro-mechanical de-icing with electro-thermal anti-icing to remove ice from protected areas.

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Vejay Ram
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228 views3 pages

Aircraft Anti-Icing System

There are several different types of aircraft ice protection systems. Pneumatic de-icing boots use inflatable rubber chambers on the leading edges of wings and stabilizers. When inflated and deflated rapidly, they break the bond between ice and the aircraft. Electro-thermal systems use resistive circuits embedded in wings to generate heat and melt ice. Bleed air systems route hot air from jet engines through wings and tail surfaces to prevent ice accumulation. Electro-mechanical systems use actuators underneath wings to induce shock waves that dislodge ice. Hybrid systems combine electro-mechanical de-icing with electro-thermal anti-icing to remove ice from protected areas.

Uploaded by

Vejay Ram
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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AIRCRAFT DE-ICING SYSTEMS

Ice protection systems are designed to keep atmospheric ice from accumulating on aircraft
surfaces (particularly leading edges), such as wings, propellers, rotor blades, engine intakes,
and environmental control intakes. If ice is allowed to build up to a significant thickness it
can change the shape of airfoils and flight control surfaces, degrading the performance,
control or handling characteristics of the aircraft. An ice protection system either prevents
formation of ice, or enables the aircraft to shed the ice before it can grow to a dangerous
thickness.

Pneumatic deicing boots


The pneumatic boot is usually made of layers of rubber, with one or more air chambers
between the layers. If multiple chambers are used, they are typically shaped as stripes
aligned with the long direction of the boot. It is typically placed on the leading edge of an
aircraft's wings and stabilizers. The chambers are rapidly inflated and deflated, either
simultaneously, or in a pattern of specific chambers only. The rapid change in shape of the
boot is designed to break the adhesive force between the ice and the rubber, and allow the
ice to be carried away by the relative wind flowing past the aircraft. However, the ice must
be carried away cleanly from the trailing sections of the surface, or it could re-freeze behind
the protected area. Re-freezing of ice in this manner was a contributing factor to the crash
of American Eagle Flight 4184.

Certain older designs of pneumatic boot were subject to a phenomenon known as ice
bridging. If the ice had not accumulated to a sufficient thickness and fragility, malleable ice
could be pushed into a shape out of reach of the inflatable sections of the boot. This
problem is mostly solved in modern designs by increasing the speed of inflation/deflation
action, and by alternating the timing of inflating/deflating adjacent chambers.

The pneumatic boot is most appropriate for low and medium speed aircraft, especially
those without leading edge lift devices such as slats. Therefore, this system is most
commonly found on turbo propeller aircraft such as the Saab 340, Embraer EMB 120
Brasilia, and British Aerospace Jetstream 41. Pneumatic De-Icing boots are sometimes found
on larger piston prop aircraft, smaller turbojets such as the Cessna Citation V, and some
older turbojets. This device is rarely used on modern turbojet aircraft.

Electro-thermal
Electro-thermal systems use resistive circuits buried in the airframe structure to generate
heat when a current is applied. The heat can be generated continuously to protect the

Issued in Public Interest by Arjith Praison


aircraft from icing (anti-ice mode), or intermittently to shed ice as it accretes on key surfaces
(de-ice). De-ice operation is generally preferred due to the lower power consumption, as the
system only needs to melt the contact layer of ice for the wind-shear to shed the remainder.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an example of a commercial airframe to use electro-thermal


ice protection. In this case the resistive heating circuit is embedded inside the glass and
carbon composite wing structure. Boeing claims the system uses half the energy of
traditional bleed-air systems (as provided by the engines), and that drag and noise are also
reduced.

For metallic aircraft skin structures, etched foil resistive heating circuits have been bonded
to the inside surface of skins. This approach holds the potential of enabling a lower overall
power requirement than the embedded circuit approach due to its ability to operate at
significantly higher power densities.

The Thermawing is an electrical ice protection system for general aviation. ThermaWing
uses a flexible, electrically conductive, graphite foil attached to a wing's leading edge.
Electric heaters heat the foil and melt the ice.

A new proposal uses a special soot made of carbon nanotubes. A thin filament is spun on a
winder to create a 10 micron-thick film, equivalent to an A4 sheet of paper. The film is a
poor conductor of electricity, because of the air gaps between the nanotubes. Instead,
current manifests as a near instantaneous rise in temperature. It heats up twice as fast as
nichrome, the heating element of choice for in-flight de-icing, using half as much energy at
one ten-thousandth the weight. The amount of material needed to cover the wings of a
jumbo jet weighs 80 grams (2.8 oz). The material cost is approximately 1% of nichrome.
Aerogel heaters could be left on continuously at low power, to prevent ice from forming.[5]

Bleed air
A bleed air system is the method used by most larger jet aircraft to keep flight surfaces
above the freezing temperature required for ice to accumulate (called anti-icing). The hot air
is "bled" off the jet engine into piccolo tubes routed through wings, tail surfaces, and engine
inlets. The spent bleed air is exhausted through holes in the lower surface of the wing.

Electro-mechanical
Electro-mechanical Expulsion Deicing Systems (EMEDS) use a mechanical force to knock the
ice off the flight surface. Typically, actuators are installed underneath the skin of the

Issued in Public Interest by Arjith Praison


structure. The actuator is moved to induce a shock wave in the protected surface to
dislodge the ice. Cox and Company, Inc. of Plainview, NY developed a lightweight, low-
power system called EMEDS that is the first ice protection technology to receive FAA
certification in 50 years, and is currently in-service on multiple commercial aircraft and
military aircraft.

Innovative Dynamics has developed a lightweight and low-power system using actuators,
called EIDI.

Hybrid Electro-Mechanical Expulsion Deicing Systems combine an EMEDS de-icer with an


electrical heating element anti-icer. The heater prevents ice accumulation on the leading
edge of the airfoil and the actuators of the EMED system remove ice that accumulates aft of
the heated portion of the airfoil. Cox and Company, Inc. of Plainview, NY has developed
multiple versions of Hybrid EMED systems referred to as Thermo-Mechanical Expulsion
Deicing System (TMEDS).

Issued in Public Interest by Arjith Praison

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