Investigation and implementation of pulse-electro thermal de-icing in commercial electric vehicles

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Transparent Windshields for various vehicles, such as cars, rail vehicles including trains, streetcars, and locomotives, snowmobiles, airplanes, helicopters and sea vessels, must be deiced or defrosted using available on-board power. Typically, deicing and defrosting are accomplished by blowing air heated by the vehicle's engine onto the windshield, which is a detriment to electric vehicle adoption because de-icing, defogging, and general winter conditions further reduce electric vehicle range, with tests showing EVs losing over 20% of their range in the winter. Pulse-electro thermal deicing (PETD) is an innovative technology that can solve this problem. It uses a high density of heating power (W/m2) using proprietary pulse and frequency, which allows for rapid and energy-efficient deicing. The pulse and frequency are calibrated based on a number of factors such as temperature, type of ice growth, etc., and melt a thin interfacial layer (~50 microns) of ice rapidly and energy efficiently. This detaches the ice, without having to expend the time and energy to melt all the ice. However, applying this technology to automotive windshield poses several challenges including the feasibility and effectiveness of the PETD technology compared with traditional deicing techniques; How the PETD system and the feedback sensor signals can be integrated with the vehicle electronic control module?; Will that cause interference with other vehicle components? It is therefore the purpose of this project to address all these challenges and validate the use of PETD technology for automotive windshield defrosting/deicing. The successful validation of this technology in the above-mentioned applications will have tremendous effect on energy saving for electric vehicles as well as the reduction of greenhouse gas emission to the environment for hybrid-electric vehicles.