Deicing Method Based On The Piezoelectric Actuators For Aircraft Wings

Accumulation of ice on the aircraft will worsen its aerodynamic performance and influence its stability as well as its maneuverability. It is reported that the ice mostly occurs in wing and empennage. The traditional deicing suffers the high energy consumption, heavy weight and the limitation of the deicing efficiency. This study concerns on a new method of deicing for the aircraft, which utilizes piezoelectric actuators upon the fact that the normal stress of bonding between ice and metal is much greater than that of the shear stress.This paper first proves the validity of the method by investigating this method on a metal plate with four sides clamped. The theoretical and finite element methods are used to analyze the vibration features of the plate in order to determine the distribution approach of the piezoelectric actuator and the promising vibration model. Then the vibration experiment is conducted based on the Doppler Vibrometer. The vibration experiment verifies the theoretical and finite element analysis. The deicing experiment for the plate shows that this novel type of deicing method is qualified to remove the ice distributed on various position of the plate. Moreover, the method is also applied to the wing leading structure upon which the validity of the method is proved directly. Similar, analysis based on the general finite element method software ANSYS is carried out to study the vibration characteristics. The analysis also indicates the promising distribution method and the vibration models for the piezoelectric actuators. Next the dSPACE system is utilized to test the dynamic feature of the wing structure based on which the distribution method and the proper exciting frequencies are decided. In the experiment, the ice on the leading edge is eliminated at suitable frequencies. This method can not only get rid of the ice quickly but enjoys the advantages of high efficiency, light weight, easy in fabrication and low cost compared with the traditional deicing method. Therefore, it is a promising deicing approach employing a shear stress between metal and ice. Thus it enjoys excellent application.