Experimental investigation on anti-icing mechanism and characteristics of superhydrophobic electrothermal coupled surface

As a novel anti-icing technology, superhydrophobic electrothermal coupled surface anti-icing possesses an excel-lent anti-icing efficiency with low energy consumption. Based on the water droplet impact behaviors and the wetting characteristics of the superhydrophobic surface, a prediction model of the heat flow density of superhydrophobic electrothermal coupled surface anti-icing is developed according to the thermal balance theory of the icing surface. The experimental analysis of the superhydrophobic electrothermal coupled surface anti-icing is carried out in a low-speed icing wind tunnel. The results show that the difference between the theoretical anti-icing heat flux and the experimental results is less than 6%, which verifies the prediction model. The analysis of the experimental results and energy consumption shows that the superhydrophobic electrothermal coupled surface anti-icing effectively reduces the energy consumption compared with the electrothermal method. With the freestream velocity of 10 m/s, liquid water content of 1 g/m³, mean volume diameter of 65 μm, and temperature of −15 ℃, the superhydrophobic coating can effectively prevent the formation of backwater due to its wetting property. For dry and wet surface anti-icing, the superhydrophobic electrothermal coupled surface anti-icing method reduces the energy consumption by about 43% and 33% respectively compared with the electrothermal method.