Technologies for ice protection of aircraft air intakes. Development of an electric propulsion motor cooling inlet ice protection system using CFD, droplet impingement and thermal modelling
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Program
Mobility engineering (MPMOB), MSc
Publicerad
2024
Författare
Selimglu, Halime
Vasconcelos, Tomás
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
As the aviation industry works towards a global commitment to net-zero carbon emission, a growing interest occurs in electric aircraft. The airstream-facing surfaces on aircraft in operational environments are susceptible to in-flight ice accretion, which has crucial effects on aircraft performance and operational safety. An electric engine on the aircraft creates unique challenges in dealing with ice accretion since typical ice protection sources such as bleed air or exhaust gases are not output from the electric motors. The main objective of this study is to investigate ice protection technologies for electric propulsion motor air intakes to ensure safe end energy-efficient flight without any icing hazards.
A generic model of a submerged cooling air intake is designed. Unlike typical cooling air inlets, the need for an ice protection system (IPS) is demonstrated by the in-flight icing simulations carried out by FENSAP-ICE due to the novel placement under an angled nacelle. Within the icing and flight envelopes, the required power for providing anti-icing to the air intake is calculated by a Simulink model, and the computed heat is validated to confirm that it is sufficient to avoid icing.
After evaluating various concepts, it is found that utilizing residual heat from the motor/inverter cooling system provides sufficient heat for anti-icing. However, implementation across the entire lip cross-section adds more complexity in comparison
to other solutions. An electro-thermal IPS is identified as the more feasible option for smaller surfaces, such as inlet lips, in terms of power consumption, system complexity, and reliability.