The B. F. Goodrich Company

Gary V Tenison

Kevin L Leffel

Ronald W Phillips, Ii

James C Putt

Norbert A Weisend, Jr

Lowell J Adams

James A Briscoe

A deicer for attachment to an airfoil substructure includes a segmented outer shell, with adjacent segments being decoupled from one another utilizing elastomeric decoupling members. The outer edges of the outer periphery shell segments are likewise decoupled from the airfoil structure utilizing elastomeric decoupling members. Each segment of the deicer is deflected by a respective deflection means which are provided energy from a controller.

Mechanical deicer having decoupled skin segments

A de-icer for de-icing those ice accreting surfaces of a skin formed of a material having a substantially elevated modulus, wherein the de-icer is positioned between a support surface and a surface of the skin obverse to the ice accreting surface and inflated to produce a deformation in the skin sufficient to detach and dislodge accumulations of ice on the ice accreting surface but insufficient to exceed an endurance limit for the material from which the skin is formed. The invention finds use in de-icing aircraft surfaces such as wings, tail surfaces, propellers, rotors such as rotating wings, tail rotors and nose cones.

De-icer

Growing community of inventors

New Brighton, MN, United States of America

Gary V Tenison