Airlayer testing at the ICE lab of the Tampere University

On the 6th and 7th of November, Julien (center) from Novia joined Betül (right) and Niklas (left) at the Tampere University ICE lab to test the airlayer de-icing system they have been developing. The system consists in creating an air layer on the surface of the wind turbine blade (here replaced by small boxes) by circulating airflow through the small holes on the blades. This airlayer could deflect the droplet before they reach the surface and avoid ice accretion as an anti-icing system (picture 1) but also be use to expel already attached ice from the blade by using air pressure (picture 3). The tests took place in the ICE lab at -10°C.