MS student Nicole Stokowski with Advisor A. Stillwell

Ice formation and accumulation on aircraft is a major problem for the aviation industry.  Icing is directly responsible for fatal aircraft incidents, negatively impacting the safety of air travel and requiring expensive, inefficient, and sometimes ineffective de-icing strategies to be employed both pre-flight and during flight.  Current research at the university is being conducted to develop a method of electro-thermal pulse deicing capable of efficiently and rapidly removing ice from the exterior of an aircraft during on-ground, takeoff, and in-flight operation.  This research focuses on the design and implementation of a high-power dc-dc converter stage on-board the aircraft that is responsible for directing power from the on-board battery to sections of the aircraft wings for deicing.  Special design considerations are made regarding converter power density and weight, in addition to efficiency.  Furthermore, the converter design adheres to the operating range limits of the on-board battery and clearance and creepage constraints for aerospace applications, as well as heater-material power requirements (based on heater-material geometry/layout).  A PCB prototype of the dc-dc converter (Figure 20) has been created and tested to verify high efficiencies and power handling capabilities.  The converter is over 99% efficient at a rated load of 3 kW and experiences favorable thermal performance, mitigating the need for any heavy heat dissipating solutions.  Furthermore, the converter has proven functionality in stressful environments such as high ambient temperature (> 55 °C), and mechanically noisy environments (shocks and vibration).  These tests have returned promising results, as the converter maintains normal operation and does not experience any degradation in performance under these conditions.  Lastly, planning is underway to facilitate the integration of this converter with the prototype heater material it is meant to interface with.

Figure 20. Prototype 8 level FCML converter.