Carbon nanotubes (CNT) based ice protection system applied to a small aircraft

Resumo

© 2017, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Inc, AIAA. All rights reserved.Aircraft icing is a matter that still demands considerable research efforts because of its great impact on aircraft performance and safety. In most applications, the power source of Ice Protection Systems (IPS) is the engine, and thus fuel burn, engine thrust, and aircraft performance are affected by the compressed bleed air or shaft horsepower extracted. IPS pre-activation, intercycle, and residual ice shape and position in the leading edge are also important and do affect aircraft performance. This paper presents a proof of concept of a novel ice protection system based on Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) used as electrical heaters, installed in the leading edge of a two-dimensional horizontal tail model, and tested in an icing wind tunnel. The main advantages of the CNT heaters are their light weight, easiness to conform (very thin layer), and uniform electrical and thermal properties. The CNT based IPS model was tested in de-icing mode, except for a narrow zone along the leading edge highlight referred to as ‘parting strip’ that was operated in anti-icing mode. Based on the residual and intercycle ice accretions footprint obtained in the icing wind tunnel tests, the de-icing configuration tested was deemed successful. The associated aircraft performance degradation will be further investigated in on-going and future work by means of numerical analysis, wind-tunnel tests, flight tests with artificial ice shapes, and flight tests in natural icing conditions. In addition, future research will investigate the optimization of the de-icing system heating zones distribution (size and position) and de-icing sequence to potentially reduce the required power input or the residual and intercycle ice accretions.