Hybrid piezoelectric films and smart icephobic coatings with acoustic wave strategies for active ice protection

结冰(通过超冷潮湿空气、霜冻形成、冰冻凝结或冻雨)对风力/船用涡轮机和飞机构成巨大的操作和安全挑战。对于风力发电，这些涡轮机的效率/产量往往大幅下降，严重损坏或发生事故。飞机在飞行过程中积累的冰会严重恶化空气动力学性能，并可能导致灾难。该项目的主要目标是研究将压电薄膜(如掺杂的氧化锌)和固有的疏水表面/涂层相结合的混合智能薄膜材料，以产生表面声波(SAW)，用作防冰和除冰机制，以缓解风力涡轮机的实时结冰问题。创新的想法是研究混合压电薄膜，直接在结构表面产生锯片，然后激发出协同的机械热效应来实现防冰/除冰功能，并同时使用这些薄膜声波器件进行冰传感。这种开发的智能薄膜材料平台的一个关键优势是它与涡轮叶片表面的无缝集成，具有高能效和无线驱动/控制/传感功能。部分工作将包括液滴与低温液滴碰撞和低温表面的实验研究，以模拟寒冷气候对风力涡轮机和飞机的影响。该项目的主要研究工作如下：(1)利用磁控溅射沉积技术在涡轮叶片材料(如铝板)上设计/沉积/表征先进的压电掺杂氧化锌薄膜。(2)设计、制作和模拟薄膜材料锯片，研究其压电波和声波特性，重点研究基于多层膜的振动模式和热效应。(3)智能疏水表面和涂层(包括声表面波兼容的超疏水/SLIPS/SoCal/CyTop/弹性涂层)。(4)用于集成测冰和监测的薄膜压电材料。(5)采用智能防冰涂层材料的薄膜声波防冰/除冰性能。

Ice buildup (via super-cold humid air, frost formation, frozen condensation or freezing rain) poses significant operational and safety challenges on wind/marine turbines and aeroplanes. For wind energy generation, these turbines often suffer significant drops in efficiency/production, severe damages or accidents. Ice accumulated on aircraft during flight seriously deteriorates aerodynamic performance and may lead to disasters. The key aim of this project is to research hybrid smart thin materials combining piezoelectric films (such as doped-ZnO) and inherently icephobic surface/coatings, to generate surface acoustic waves (SAWs), which are used as anti-icing and de-icing mechanisms to mitigate real-time ice issues for the wind turbines. The innovative idea is to research hybrid piezoelectric thin films to generate SAWs directly onto surfaces of structures which can then excite a synergistic mechano-thermal effect for both anti-icing/de-icing functions, and to simultaneously perform ice sensing using these thin film acoustic wave devices. A key advantage of this developed smart thin film material platform with icephobic coatings is its seamless integration onto surfaces of turbine blades with energy efficient and wireless actuation/control/sensing functions. Some of the work will include the experimental investigation of droplet impact with low-temperature droplets and on low-temperature surfaces in order to simulate the effect of cold climates on both wind turbines and aircraft.The project has the following key research work: (1) Design/deposit/characterize advanced piezoelectric doped ZnO films on turbine blade materials (for example, aluminium plates) using magnetron sputtering deposition. (2) Design, fabricate and simulate thin film material SAWs and investigate their piezoelectric and acoustic wave properties, focusing on multilayer based vibration modes and thermal effects. (3) Smart icephobic surfaces and coatings (including SAW compatible superhydrophobic/SLIPS/SOCAL/CYTop/elastic coatings). (4) Thin film piezoelectric materials for integrated ice sensing and monitoring. (5) Anti-icing/de-icing performance using thin film acoustic waves with smart icephobic coating materials.