"Chris W" wrote in message
news:TTF0g.947$9c6.897@dukeread11...
I just saw this story on slashdot about deicing technology, the submitter
of the story mentions deicing plane windscreens but I don't think they
realized how much more valuable it could be to deice wings if it is a good
as it sounds like it could be.

Link to the actual article:

http://news.com.com/A+high-tech+way+...3-6061333.html

The submitter's "mention" is simply a quote from the article.

From the article:

"The difficulty with PETD lies in power delivery. The surface only has to be
heated to about 1 to 2 degrees Celsius, but a broad surface has to be heated
simultaneously"

It may be that a surface the size of a wing would be substantially too
difficult to apply this technology to.

There are already related technologies being used. Columbia is using
electrically heated deicing, and I have read of a technology more like the
one you've referenced, in which an pulsed electro-magnetic field is used to
knock ice off mechanically (but it doesn't require heating the surface, if I
recall correctly).

Pete