Design and realisation of a Wind Tunnel model for ice protection system demonstration

The present work focuses on the design and realization of a leading edge of a wind tunnel model, integrated with two ice protection systems: an icephobic coating and an ultrasound piezoelectric system. The scope is to investigate these technologies acting separately and in synergy. The definition of the demonstrator, the design approach and the manufacture and integration process are in line with the development path at the basis of the National Project of "SMOS - Smart On board Systems", targeting innovative anti and de-icing low power architectures. The work is organized in different sections. At first, the just mentioned Project is introduced, outlining its target, the technologies developed and the maturation path. Secondly, the two protection systems object of this work are illustrated and a discussion on their capability of working in synergy is presented. Then the wind tunnel model is presented explaining the rational of the layout against the types of protection systems installed and the requirements of the tests. Finally, the manufacture of the module devoted to the piezoelectric and icephobic coating is described.