PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Utair ATR 72 Crash in Siberia
View Single Post
Old 24th Feb 2015, 22:23
  #77 (permalink)  
Typhoon650
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: FG central
Age: 53
Posts: 140
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I've always wondered, if turbine aircraft typically run some sort of fuel heating to warm up fuel for the engines when cruising at altitude, why not design a system that allows recirculation and heating of fuel in tanks when on the ground?
The fuel wouldn't need to be heated too much, 10c should do it and the excellent heat transfer abilities of aluminium should help to keep ice from forming from at least the majority of the wing?
It seems the systems are already in place to heat fuel and a gas turbine has plenty of excess heat available when running to turn it to this job.
I'm also sure smaller operators would pay for an aircraft that could possibly deice (or even prevent ice buildup) itself on turnaround, or within 30min/1 hour on a cold start with just the APU or a ground cart. Both APU or cart would probably be running anyway, producing large quantities of waste heat.
Typhoon650 is offline