Ice on your car's windshield is a seasonal nuisance, removed with elbow grease and a plastic scraper. Ice on an airplane is much more serious. It'll stop you cold. Gravity is such a downer.
Willoughby-based Kelly Aerospace Thermal Systems, helps general aviation and commuter aircraft (such as Cessna 350/400 planes) with the ThermaWing system. The system is lightweight (46 pounds), covers a large surface area and sheds ice fast. All the pilot has to do is activate a switch. The system monitors the outside air temperature and controls itself. A flexible, electrically conductive, graphite foil attached to a wing's leading edge makes an instant temperature rise. The ice melts then goes away due to aerodynamic force. It's quick, and cleaner than liquid de-icing products.
Development began around 1999 and took off via a NASA Small Business Innovative Research grant. Kelly's great innovation was adapting graphite heating element materials used in other high temperature applications to de-icing an aircraft.
ThermaWing installations began in 2006. Today, system maintenance can be performed not just at the 14-person site in Lake County near Cleveland, but also in Oregon, New York, Alabama (parent company Kelly Aerospace is based in Montgomery) and in Germany. The company plans to make the system available for a wider range of aircraft. Also a result of the research grant, the company has had success with product integration and certification of high-output alternators and DC-powered air conditioning.
Demand for ThermaWing has been steady, spokeswoman Michelle Beckmann says. And she points out that in aviation, due to thin air at higher altitudes, ice is a year-round hazard. (Take heart, fellow auto owners. Our de-icing needs are only seasonal.)
Source: Michelle Beckmann, Kelly Aerospace Thermal Systems
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs