Physical De-Icing Techniques for Wind Turbine Blades

Abstract

The review reflects physical solutions for de-icing, one of the main problems that impedes the efficient use of wind turbines for autonomous energy resources in cold regions. This topic is currently very relevant for ensuring the dynamic development of wind energy in the Arctic. The review discusses an effective anti-icing strategy for wind turbine blades, including various passive and active physical de-icing techniques using superhydrophobic coatings, thermal heaters, ultrasonic and vibration devices, operating control to determine the optimal methods and their combinations. After a brief description of the active methods, the energy consumption required for their realization is estimated. Passive methods do not involve extra costs, so the review focuses on the most promising solutions with superhydrophobic coatings. Among them, special attention is paid to plastic coatings with a lithographic method of applying micro and nanostructures. This review is of interest to researchers who develop new effective solutions for protection against icing, in particular, when choosing systems for protecting wind turbines.

Influence of nano- and micro-roughness on vortex generations of mixing flows in a cavity

“…Over the years, an infinite number of examples of structures resembling superhydrophobic surfaces with hierarchical roughness have been published 23 with numerous examples of successful and efficient use of superhydrophobic coatings in energy and transport, e.g., the hydrophobic properties can be used to prevent water and ice erosion on turbine blades. 24 However, there is a serious problem with superhydrophobic surfaces, since the liquid on the rough substrate can also exist in the Wenzel state 20 when water completely displaces the air to wet the substrate. In other words, the hydrophobic effect is lost when air is completely displaced by working fluid.…”

Preparation of superhydrophobic asymmetric vitrimer coating with high porosity and the key role of hierarchical pocket structure on long freeze delay time and high durability

“…5 Traditional ice strategies of de-icing were electroimpulse, thermal-treating and mechanical removal, and so forth. [6][7][8] Nevertheless, all of these conventional methods were inefficient and high cost or even environmental unfriendly. In recent years, inspired by the water repellence, low-adhesion, and self-cleaning property of the lotus leaf in nature, many scholars have concentrated on artificially superhydrophobic surfaces.…”

Experimental Investigation on the Droplet Stability of Superhydrophobic Mesh

“…The air layer is trapped between solid micro-sized surface roughness and fluids, which is stable [4,5]. Due to the air-water interface on the superhydrophobic surface that contacts with water, the superhydrophobic surface can be widely applied in a series of engineering applications, such as underwater drag reduction [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13], heat transfer enhancement [14][15][16][17], droplet manipulation [18][19][20][21], de-icing techniques for outdoor facilities [17,22], microfluidics [23,24], oil-water separation [25][26][27][28], and so on. When a mesh is modified to be superhydrophobic, with the surface roughness decreasing to a micron scale, the role of the capillary force plays a more important role in the macro phenomenon of water on it.…”