Anti ice coating for airplanes?

[sky_hi]

Hey guys, with it being that time of year again and all the safety messages of being aware of icing conditions I was just wondering about prevention of icing.

What I mean is would it not be possible to coat the interior of a carburettor with Teflon, or one of those new Super hydrophobic coating to prevent carburetor icing from getting a foothold?

Also why not one of those coatings for the leading edges, etc.

Now I am under no illusions that one could fly right into moderate to severe icing but would those coatings offer protection against light icing of the carb and leading edges?

Just a thought...

[lownslow]

The biggest problem you'll find with that sort of approach on critical surfaces is that it won't last. Fly through some bugs, you're going to get ice; chip or scratch the coating, you're going to get ice; I would think even dirt could lead to ice. Will UV break it down? Will washing it cause scratches? It's a good idea on the surface but looking deeper it starts to get really complicated.

As for preventing carb ice, I'm reminded of an old ad for the Beetle: "The Volkswagen will never have a radiator boil over... it doesn't have one!" Same deal with carb ice. A lot of modern piston aero engines have fuel injection for various reasons but IMO one of the best benefits is no more carb ice.

[Bede]

Superhydrophobic coatings are really neat and this would be an excellent application. Unfortunately, like the poster above mentioned, they are not durable.

[YYCAME]

I think part of the problem with anti icing solutions is that you have to wash the leading edges etc before applying your hydrophobic spray and have the aircraft in a proper temperature range to get it to bond properly. What people really want is something they can just spray on a cold and moderately clean aircraft. Icex blows off pretty fast too in my experience but again probably because it just isn't feasible to spend the time needed to prep the surface.

It would be interesting to see someone do some real world testing though with samples for various anti ice solutions, both contaminated and clean and applied at different temp ranges to get some real numbers in terms of durability and effectiveness.

[Heliian]

PAM. don't spray over orifices though.

[sky_hi]

How about old airplanes coating the inner carburetor with Teflon or super hydrophobic coatings? I wonder if that might be a more useful endeavour.

I sure hope they can improve the durability of the hydrophobic coatings as it would seem to be very useful.

[Cat Driver]

Carb heat will prevent or get rid of carb ice if used properly.

Using coatings may just give a false dependence that it will work.

[PostmasterGeneral]

Those hydrophobic coatings are solvent-based, thus rendering them useless in the throat of a carb.

[Meatservo]

We all know that putting that "ICE-EX" stuff on the boots makes the ice come off a million times easier... I wonder if that hydrophobic stuff would work? Or would it just make the water run back and freeze on an even less convenient part of the wing? You'd probably wish you hadn't put that stuff on there, unless you sprayed the whole upper surface with it!

[CpnCrunch]

Carb heat will prevent or get rid of carb ice if used properly.

Using coatings may just give a false dependence that it will work.

In theory, yes, but some planes are a lot worse than others. It doesn't exactly inspire confidence if you're pretty much guaranteed to get carb ice at some point on the climbout on days like today.

[Cat Driver]

Are you flying a certifed airplane?

I do not know of any certified aircraft engines that do not have carb heat that will not prevent carb ice on climb out if used properly and are airworthy.

[oldtimer]

An old trucker friend of mine showed me how a big honkin bug deflector on the hood kept ice from forming on the windshield so if we put a big honkin bug deflector in front of the wing, it would deflect the ice away from the wing.
There! problem solved.
I think I will patent the idea. Do you think it would work?

[CpnCrunch]

Are you flying a certifed airplane?

I do not know of any certified aircraft engines that do not have carb heat that will not prevent carb ice on climb out if used properly and are airworthy.

It's a 150, and yes the carb heat does remove icing. However I simply don't like the engine starting to crap out at 500ft over water out of Victoria or whatever. 15 years of flying, zero carb ice encounters - even flying carburetted 152/172s in IMC and rain in England. One year of the 150 in BC and it happens all the time in winter.

[Cat Driver]

Have you tried using carb heat on the climb when there is carb icing conditions present, don't forget to lean it to compensate for the richer mixture with carb heat.

[CpnCrunch]

Have you tried using carb heat on the climb when there is carb icing conditions present, don't forget to lean it to compensate for the richer mixture with carb heat.

That's certainly an option to consider. I think the owner prefers to climb with carb heat off if possible, but I'll suggest that. The POH doesn't say anything at all about carb heat (except where the knob is). The POH for 1959 172 with the O-300 says to climb without carb heat, but use it if necessary and then lean.

Anyway, I think you're right and it might be better just to leave it on the whole time (including the takeoff roll and climb) if carb icing is likely.

[Cat Driver]

[PostmasterGeneral]

One of the most useful gauges I ever had the chance of flying with was a carb temp gauge in an old 182. You could use just enough carb heat to get it to +5* or so, and thus could maximize performance without a chance of picking up carb ice. Pretty nifty.