According to the British ADS Group on November 26, researchers at Queen's University Belfast are preparing for the winter and have developed a new system to prevent ice from accumulating on aircraft.
When an airplane passes through the clouds in cold weather, ice can form on the wings, propellers, or air intakes of the airplane. This will increase aircraft resistance and reduce lift, which will cause the aircraft to lose control. Many aircraft accidents are due to wing surface ice. The traditional anti-icing system on most airliners is based on hot air. The hot air is "exhausted" from the engine and piped to the inner surface of the wing, which then transfers heat to the outer surface through thermal conduction, which prevents the formation of ice. The system adds weight and maintenance requirements and is not energy efficient, especially on new generation composite aircraft.
A team of experts at Queen's University has developed a more effective alternative-a "mesh" ultra-lightweight heater based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) that can be used for deicing. The researchers said the research was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of a future aircraft structure research program. Manufacturing a new de-icing system first requires the creation of a "CNT mesh" in which the individual CNTs are aligned in the stretching direction and 10-40 layers are stacked horizontally in different directions to achieve the required heating characteristics. These CNT meshes are then cured in a thin glass fiber laminate to achieve structural support and connect to a power source. The thickness of each layer of CNT net is only 1/2000 of the hair diameter, and the net area that can cover the football field is less than 30 sheets of A4 paper.
The test found that the newly developed CNT heater achieves rapid heating, which shows that the CNT heater can quickly de-ice the aircraft and provide effective ice protection in flight. Compared to the most advanced heating systems currently used on aircraft, CNT heaters are lighter, provide faster and more uniform heating, and are more energy efficient. It is also more flexible in terms of shape and performance or power requirements to suit any surface, enabling rapid de-icing.