Electro-expulsive De-icing Actuator with Segmented Flexible Loop
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electro-expulsive de-icing actuators suffer from reduced performance and fatigue failure due to encapsulated loop ends being fixed and unmovable, leading to unproductive deformation and stress, which restricts the mechanical output and causes fatigue.
Innovation Solution
The actuator assembly features two mechanically independent loop subassemblies connected by flexible connectors, allowing for greater movement and reducing stress concentrations, thereby enhancing performance and preventing fatigue failure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the loop ends are encapsulated and fixed, then the actuator structure is simplified and easier to manufacture, but the mechanical output energy is reduced and fatigue failure occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The actuator loop is divided into multiple independent segments (first loop segment, second loop segment, third loop segment) connected by flexible connectors. This segmentation allows each segment to move independently, reducing stress concentrations at the ends while maintaining structural integrity and preventing fatigue failure.
Solution Approach 2:
The fixed encapsulated ends are replaced with flexible connectors that allow dynamic movement. The flexible connectors enable the loop segments to move relative to each other during actuator operation, accommodating mechanical output energy without creating fixed stress points that lead to fatigue.
2Shape
If the loop ends are fixed and unmovable, then the actuator assembly is more compact, but the mechanical output energy is diverted to unproductive deformation
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible connectors replace fixed rigid connections, enabling the loop segments to move dynamically during actuation. This dynamic capability allows the actuator to maintain a compact form factor while directing mechanical output energy into productive motion rather than unproductive deformation of fixed ends.
Solution Approach 2:
Flexible connectors are used to join the loop segments, providing the necessary flexibility to accommodate mechanical deformation without creating rigid constraints. These flexible connections allow the actuator to maintain compactness while enabling productive mechanical output through controlled segment movement.
3Ease of manufacture
If the loop ends are encapsulated, then the manufacturing process is simplified, but stress concentrations cause fatigue failure
Solution Approach 1:
The loop is segmented into multiple independent sections connected by flexible connectors, eliminating the need for complex encapsulation processes while distributing stress away from concentration points. This segmentation approach simplifies manufacturing by allowing modular assembly while simultaneously improving fatigue strength through stress distribution.
Solution Approach 2:
Flexible connectors serve as intermediaries between the loop segments, replacing the need for rigid encapsulation. These connectors mediate the mechanical stresses, allowing movement and reducing stress concentrations, thereby improving fatigue strength while maintaining ease of assembly.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design enhances the robustness of the actuator, providing greater weight savings and design flexibility while effectively removing ice from aircraft surfaces with improved mechanical output energy distribution.
Implementation Method 1
As an electric current pulse flows that way, it results in a large force that tends to mutually repel the first and second halves of the loop. That repulsion results in relative movement of the first and second halves away from each other
Implementation Method 2
The actuator impacts the inner surface of the skin, that action produces the shock waves in the skin, and the shock waves knock the accumulated ice off the outer surface of the skin
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2a
Figure 2b
AI summary
An apparatus for removing ice from an object (e.g., in-flight ice removal from the skin of an aircraft) includes an actuator assembly that forms an elongated electrically conductive loop. The actuator is mounted in a position enabling it to impact the object to be de-iced in response to movement of the loop that is produced by electric current pulses flowing in opposite directions in two mechanically independent loop subassemblies. The loop subassemblies include multiple electrically conductive elements interconnected at their ends using elongated flexible connectors in order to introduce a physically discontinuity that reduces any restriction of relative movement of the subassembly ends caused by the connectors, thereby achieving enhanced operation and less fatigue failure as compared to a rigid structure having encapsulated element.