Thermal Anti-Icing

Preventing excessive ice buildup on aircraft wings during flight is critical. Traditionally, heat for this purpose is sourced from the aircraft’s engines and distributed through pneumatic channels, or in aircraft where this is not feasible, pneumatic de-icers that mechanically break the ice are used.

However, the need for lighter de-icing products to improve fuel efficiency has increased interest in using electrically generated heat for this task. Since aircraft operate in environments with high humidity and low ambient temperatures, airflow rapidly absorbs heat from the wing surface, making the electro-thermal anti-icing system a challenging application.

Thermal Anti-Icing

Ideally, during de-icing, embedded heaters loosen the ice on the wing surface, allowing aerodynamic forces to peel off the ice layer in large pieces. If insufficient heat is applied, the ice remains in place. If excessive heat is applied to the wing’s leading edge, the ice melts into liquid instead of peeling off in layers, flows backward along the wing surface, and re-freezes in a process known as "runback icing." Therefore, precise control of all aspects of the process is critically important.

ADES Engineering is working on a new high-power-density electric de-icing approach to overcome these challenges and continues its research and development efforts to bring this solution to life.

Thermal Anti-Icing