Multi-Scale Superhydrophobic Anti-Icing Coating for Wind Turbine Blades

Abstract

As a surface functional material, super-hydrophobic coating has great application potential in wind turbine blade anti-icing, self-cleaning and drag reduction. In this study, ZnO and SiO 2 multi-scale superhydrophobic coatings with mechanical flexibility were prepared by embedding modified ZnO and SiO 2 nanoparticles in PDMS. The prepared coating has a higher static water contact angle (CA is 153°) and a lower rolling angle (SA is 3.3°), showing excellent super-hydrophobicity. Because of its excellent superhydrophobic ability and micro-nano structure, the coating has good anti-icing ability. Under the conditions of −10 C and 60% relative humidity, the coating can delay the freezing time by 1511S, which is 10.7 times slower than the normal freezing time. More importantly, due to the mechanical properties provided by SiO 2 and the synergistic effect of micro-nano particles, the coating has excellent mechanical durability. After 10 wear tests, the contact angle of the coating is still as high as 141°and the rolling angle is 6.8°. This research provides a theoretical reference for the preparation of a mechanically stable coating with a simple preparation process, as well as a basic research on the anti-icing behavior of the coating.

Research on mechanism of anti-icing of polar ships based on ultrasonic vibration

“…1 shows the actual picture of ice cover on the deck of the ship, ship's equipment, ship's cabins, and icing on the warships and boats [6][7] . At present, domestic and foreign research for ship de-icing mainly focuses on: electric heating method, fluid heating method, inflation method, surface coating method and vibration de-icing method, etc [8][9][10][11] .Among them, the electric heating method has higher energy consumption, reducing the power generation efficiency of ship wind turbines; the hull surface coating method can reduce the icing rate on the hull surface, but it can not completely inhibit the icing on the hull surface, and the coating strength is low; the system structure of the fluid heating method and the inflatable method is more complex, and it is not suitable for the use of ships with a large volume and a complex structure [12] . Since the 1980s, ultrasonic technology has been promoted in many fields in China, and has been widely used in medicine, industry, military, chemical industry and agriculture, etc.…”

Study on Lubrication-Photothermal Synergistic Deicing of CNT Coating on Wind Turbine Blades

“…They generally play an auxiliary role and do not have broad development space. Coating anti-icing is an ideal anti-icing method with low energy consumption and no pollution [7], which generally include superhydrophobic coating [8], selflubricating coating [9], and photothermal coating [10].…”

Use of Green Fs Lasers to Generate a Superhydrophobic Behavior in the Surface of Wind Turbine Blades

“…In the case of wind turbine blades, different coatings have been developed to achieve this property. In many cases, fluorinated compound coated ZnO and/or SiO 2 nanoparticles are embedded within PDMS substrates [9,10] to enhance a superhydrophobic character to the surface, reducing its free energy. Alternatively, direct addition of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) nanoparticles to these coatings has also been employed for the same purpose [11].…”