Malvern Spraytec helps improve icing wind tunnel efficiency through real-time particle size measurement

A Malvern Instruments Spraytec particle sizing system has been installed in the new icing wind tunnel at Aerospace Composite Technologies’ London Luton Airport site (Luton, UK). The Spraytec allows rapid and accurate determination of droplet size, enabling the icing conditions in the tunnel to be closely controlled, and to be adjusted much more rapidly than has been possible in the past.

Aerospace Composite Technologies specialises in the development and provision of aircraft ice protection systems and aircraft transparencies. The new tunnel is used primarily for testing the external surfaces of fixed and rotating wing aircraft to demonstrate performance across the full range of international icing requirements. This includes simulation of flight into supercooled liquid water droplets, ice crystals and mixed conditions, in air temperatures down to below minus 300C. Rain and snow conditions can also be simulated.

Airblast water atomisers are used to create clouds in the tunnel. The measurement of droplet size and concentration is vital to ensure that icing conditions conform to pre-set specifications and that there is effective simulation of environmental conditions. For a long time this measurement has been the rate-limiting step in tunnel operations as the traditional ‘oil-slide’ method is labour-intensive, time-consuming and involves a long delay between sampling and producing the final result.

Test Facilities Manager, Glenn Howard, confirmed that the installation of the Spraytec system has brought immediate benefits: “Because Spraytec operates as a continuous measurement system it produces a stream of data that allows us to constantly monitor tunnel conditions and to make adjustments rapidly. As a result we now need less time to achieve controlled conditions, which means more efficient and more cost-effective use of the tunnel. Spraytec has completely replaced the oil slide method for droplet sizing and has replaced sieving for determining the size of ice particles.”

Spraytec’s continuous measurement capability, exceptionally fast data acquisition and processing, repeatability and accuracy of results were all factors that influenced Aerospace Composite Technologies decision to purchase the system. Importantly, Spraytec also provides a permanent record of each test, which is now a major consideration for certification and validation procedures.

Marketing Manager Ian Hubbard believes that the advances to the wind tunnel operation will ensure the growth of the Aerospace Composite Technologies’ research and testing services for third party companies. “The tunnel is now operating to maximum efficiency. We can therefore make the facility more widely and cost-effectively available to third party companies.”

Für weitere Informationen zu dieser Pressemitteilung kontaktieren Sie bitte: