Electric de-icing

[nomorecatering]

A few years ago, there was a flurry of press releases about elecric deicing for GA types. Boots were old tech they said. Kelly aerospce markets one version.

But since then...nothing.

Has the idea died in the bum? Not as good as they promised?

[Capt Fathom]

I think you'd need a lot of electricity for that!

[Runaround Valve]

The Boeing 707 as originally designed had electric de-icing boots on the horizontal and vertical stabilisers.
It was a rubber boot with the electric de-icing wires embedded in it, covered on the outside by a layer of stainless steel.
A problem arose when a lightning strike would hit the stainless cover and go on to burn a hole in the rubber boot thus severing the heating wires. The whole leading edge then had to be exchanged with a serviceable one.
Boeing did tests that showed that there was no need for tail de-icing and normal aluminium alloy leading edges were then fitted.

[Mach E Avelli]

Cessna Citation has electric deice on inboard sections of the wing. 30-something-year-old design.
However, generating enough power for heating a wing, prop and tail out of a belt-driven alternator on a typical GA piston engine could be a problem, but not impossible. As with many aviation developments, it's usually the small market that inhibits progress. The technology may not be a big deal, but the certification process usually is.

[43Inches]

There are two non-standard options available;

Kelly Aerospace distributes the Therma-Wing option, which is a electric heated leading edge. I'm not sure how this would work in moderate to severe ice where runback ice may be a factor.

Another option was created by NASA but not sure how many aircraft are equiped with it, an extract from an old press release;


RELEASE: 98-37AR
NASA LIGHTWEIGHT 'ICE ZAPPER' TO BE USED ON NEW AIRCRAFT
An innovative NASA ice removal system will be included with the first new general aviation aircraft to be introduced in the United States in 15 years. The lightweight, patented device will zap dangerous ice from wings and other aircraft parts during flight.
Lancair Inc., Bend, OR, will test the ice removal system with its Lancair IV aircraft and make the system available later this summer with the new Columbia 300, a four-seat, general aviation airplane. Even in warm climates, aircraft icing can be a problem at higher altitudes where temperatures are cold.
In 1995, NASA licensed the ice zapper, officially known as the Electro-Expulsive Separation System, to Ice Management Systems, Inc., Temecula, CA, for development and marketing. Ice Management recently agreed to develop the system for Lancair aircraft. The ice zapper could help NASA meet its goal of greatly improving commercial aircraft safety.
"The ice zapper uses one-thousandth the power and is one-tenth the weight of electro-thermal ice removal systems used today," said inventor Leonard Haslim of NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA. "The system pulverizes ice into small particles and removes layers of ice as thin as frost or as thick as an inch of glaze."


Cox manufactures a version of EMEDS for the Premier I and Hawker Horizon.

The Russians may be more advanced on the technology but there is very little information available.