Field Validation of Anti-icing Method for Aircrafts by Releasing Supercooling Using Ultrasonic Sound Wave

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K18911
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 24:Aerospace engineering, marine and maritime engineering, and related fields
• Research Institution: Shizuoka University
• Principal Investigator: Fukiba Katsuyoshi 静岡大学, 工学部, 准教授 (50435814)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 中田 大将 室蘭工業大学, 大学院工学研究科, 助教 (90571969)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 着氷

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Icing problem, where ice accumulates on surfaces of aircraft wings or engines, causes severe aircraft incidents in the past. In this study, we proposed a new method to prevent ice accumulation by freezing supercooled water droplets in the air using ultrasonic sound wave and validated the method. If supercooled water freezes in the air and change the phase into ice, the contact area decreases, and the attachment force reduces drastically. The results of this study showed that the method using ultrasonic sound wave does not work effectively, contrary to expectations. In contrast, surface coatings on objects showed effectiveness against ice accumulation.

Free Research Field

航空宇宙工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

これまで着氷実験は大規模な冷凍機を備えた風洞などを利用して行われてきた。この場合、実験回数を増やすのが難しく、再現性のある精度良いデータを取得するのが困難であった。本研究では実験室において冷凍庫を用いた着氷実験装置を開発し、高頻度での繰り返し試験が可能な環境を整えた。また従来の研究では着氷実験の結果は表面画像など定性的なデータの取得にとどまっていた。本研究では天秤を用いて着氷対象物の質量を非定常的に測定する装置を開発し、着氷量の時間変化を取得することに成功した。