Originally Posted by
twistair
While reading Mil Mi-8 tech docs I surprisingly saw that its TR de-icing system consumes way more electric power than MR one. To be exact it is 38 kW for a TR and only 26 kW for a MR. What could be the reason(s) that to de-ice times smaller surfaces needs much more power?
Perhaps it is like the AW139 ice protection system. The TR is anti-ice. All the blades are on all the time in icing conditions. The MR however is de-iced. Ice is allowed to accrue and then power is directed to individual heater mats on individual blades at different times to shed the ice. So only one heater mat on a blade is on at any one time. Each 139 MR blade has 6 heater mats. So only 1/6th of the heated surface is actually being heated at any one time.
Just a thought.