Button talks to the researchers who search for a solution to solve the rare but potentially fatal problem of high-altitude engine icing. The icing happens when a jet cruising in the seemingly clear air around major thunderstorms ingests a high volume of a particular kind of ice crystal that's prone to partially melting and refreezing. Researchers want to solve the icing problem before luck runs out. Engineers have over the years made minor modifications to in-service engines to cope with icing. In 2015 GE ordered modifications to some of its engines on Boeing 787s and 787-8s, software to better detect the icing in the engines and to open a duct that ejects ice from the center of the engine, changes to the shape of the housing for a temperature sensor in the air flow path where ice would build up, and new compressor blades and inlet vanes. The Penn State team came up with a measurement technique that could clear the way for more anti-icing innovations to come.
Solving engine icing
Aerospace America ; 55 , 8
2017
Article (Journal)
English
Engine Icing Performance Simulation
NTRS | 2011
|Engine Icing Technical Challenges
NTRS | 2011
|Engine Icing Criticality Assessment
NTIS | 1990
|TURBOFAN ENGINE DE-ICING COMPRESSOR AND DE-ICING PROCESS
European Patent Office | 2018
|AIAA | 2008
|