AIRCRAFT ICING PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEM EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON THE DETECTION OF TRANSITIONING

INNOVATIVE DYNAMICS IS PROPOSING A UNIQUE SOLID-STATE, LOW-COST, RUGGED ICE DETECTION SYSTEM TO REDUCE THE HAZARDS OF AIRCRAFT ICING. THIS SYSTEM WILL SENSE AN IMPENDING AIRCRAFT WING STALL CONDITION BY DIRECTLY MEASURING THE INTENSITY OF TURBULENT AIRFLOW INDUCED BY ICE ACCRETION. THE KEY SYSTEM COMPONENTS ARE PIEZOELECTRIC TRANSDUCERS FOR SENSING BOUNDARY LAYER PRESSURE FLUCTUATIONS AND A MICROCOMPUTER FOR DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING. THE INCORPORATION OF A WIRELESS DATA LINK WILL ENABLE SIMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF A NONINTRUSIVE SYSTEM EASILY RETROFITTED ON AERODYNAMIC SURFACES, ENGINE INLETS, AND FUEL TANKS. FLIGHT TESTS WILL BE PERFORMED ON A GRUMMAN AA-5 AIRCRAFT WITH SIMULATED LEADING EDGE ICE TO DEMONSTRATE SYSTEM FEASIBILITY. IF SUCCESSFUL, THIS WORK WILL LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPERATIONAL ICE DETECTION SYSTEM DURING THE PHASE II PROGRAM.