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A Holistic Solution to Icing by Acoustic Waves: De-Icing, Active Anti-Icing, Sensing with Piezoelectric Crystals, and Synergy with Thin Film Passive Anti-Icing

ICMS

Jaime del Moral, Laura Montes, Victor Joaquin Rico-Gavira, Carmen López-Santos, Stefan Jacob, Manuel Oliva-Ramirez, Jorge Gil-Rostra, Armaghan Fakhfouri, Shilpi Pandey, Miguel Gonzalez del Val, Julio Mora, Paloma García-Gallego, Pablo Francisco Ibáñez-Ibáñez, Miguel Angel Rodríguez-Valverde, Andreas Winkler, Ana Borrás, and Agustin Rodriguez González-Elipe Advanced Functional Materials 2023, Vol. 33, 2209421

Icing has become a hot topic both in academia and in the industry given its implications in transport, wind turbines, photovoltaics, and telecommunications. Recently proposed de-icing solutions involving the propagation of acoustic waves (AWs) at suitable substrates may open the path for a sustainable alternative to standard de-icing or anti-icing procedures. Herein, the fundamental interactions are unraveled that contribute to the de-icing and/or hinder the icing on AW-activated substrates. The response toward icing of a reliable model system consisting of a piezoelectric plate activated by extended electrodes is characterized at a laboratory scale and in an icing wind tunnel under realistic conditions. Experiments show that surface modification with anti-icing functionalities provides a synergistic response when activated with AWs. A thoughtful analysis of the resonance frequency dependence on experimental variables such as temperature, ice formation, or wind velocity demonstrates the application of AW devices for real-time monitoring of icing processes.

 

 

https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202209421

 

Jaime del Moral y Laura Montes en el laboratorio