Pitot Tube Tip Thermal Conductive Insert for Ice Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Pitot tubes face challenges in effectively preventing and removing ice accumulation, particularly at the tip portion where heating is difficult and ice crystals are ingested, leading to operational failures.
Innovation Solution
A pitot tube design featuring a high thermal conductive insert between a disk and tip cover, in thermal contact with a heating element, allows for improved heat transfer and extended tip length, enhancing ice prevention and measurement accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a typical cylindrical pitot tube design is used with heating elements, then the tube structure is simple and manufacturing is easy, but the tip portion is difficult to heat effectively leading to ice accumulation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a high thermal conductive insert specifically at the tip portion where heating is most difficult, creating local thermal enhancement without changing the overall simple cylindrical structure. This localized modification improves heat transfer to the tip while maintaining ease of manufacture for the rest of the tube.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines materials with different thermal conductivities by inserting a high thermal conductive material (such as metal) into the tip portion, creating a composite structure that leverages the superior thermal properties of the insert to solve the ice accumulation problem at the tip.
2Measurement precision
If the tip portion surface area is increased to improve measurements, then measurement accuracy improves, but heat transfer to the tip becomes more difficult and ice accumulation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The high thermal conductive insert is placed specifically at the tip portion to improve heat transfer locally, allowing the tip to maintain adequate temperature even with increased surface area for better measurements.
3Measurement precision
If a larger inlet diameter is used to improve flow measurement, then flow measurement capability improves, but more ice crystals are ingested leading to operational failure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the heating elements and high thermal conductive insert to melt ingested ice crystals, converting the harmful effect of ice crystal ingestion into a beneficial melting process that prevents operational failure.
4Reliability
If heating element power is increased to prevent ice accumulation, then ice prevention improves, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The high thermal conductive insert concentrates heating effectiveness at the tip portion, allowing lower overall heating power to be used while still preventing ice accumulation at the critical tip area, thus reducing energy consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
By using a composite structure with high thermal conductive insert, the heating system achieves better thermal efficiency, requiring less energy input to maintain the same tip temperature and prevent ice accumulation.
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
The design effectively maintains sufficient tip temperature to prevent freezing and improve impact pressure measurements by efficiently transmitting heat from the heating element to the tip portion, thus enhancing performance and reliability in icing conditions.
Implementation Method 1
a high thermal conductive insert disposed between the disk and the tip cover and in thermal contact with both, wherein the high thermal conductive insert has higher thermal conductivity than the body portion, the disk, and the tip cover
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3
AI summary
A pitot tube includes a substantially cylindrical body portion (12) having an interior defining a flow passage and a tip portion (14) extending along a pitot tube axis from the body portion. The tip portion includes a disk (250), a tip cover (254) and a high thermal conductive insert (252) disposed between the disk and the tip cover and in thermal contact with both.