US 10,093,426 B2Granted

Super-cooled water-droplet size indicator

AssigneeRosemount Aerospace Inc.

InventorVincent R. LoPresto

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Abstract

Apparatus and associated devices relate to a system for measuring a maximum size of super-cooled water droplets in a cloud atmosphere. The system includes a housing having a convex exterior surface on a forward end and having stabilizers projecting from an aft end. The system includes a gimballed mounting mechanism configured to attach the housing to an aircraft while permitting the housing to freely pitch and yaw with respect to the aircraft. When an airstream engages the stabilizers, the housing aligns with a direction of the engaging airstream. The system includes a sequence of indices on a corresponding sequence of ice-accretion regions of the convex exterior surface, each of the sequence of indices visible in the absence of ice accretion. The forward-most ice-free one of the sequence of indices is indicative of a maximum size of super-cooled water droplets.

Claims19

Dependent claims

A system for indicating a maximum size of super-cooled water droplets in an airstream of an aircraft, the system comprising:

a housing having a convex exterior surface on a forward end and having stabilizers projecting from an aft end;
a sequence of indices on the convex exterior surface extending from a leading index at a leading edge of the convex exterior housing through a sequence of increasingly-aft indices, each of the sequence of indices being visible in the absence of ice accretion;
and
a gimballed mounting mechanism configured to attach the housing to an aircraft while permitting the housing to freely pitch and yaw with respect to the aircraft, wherein, in response to the airstream engaging the stabilizers, the housing aligns with a direction of the engaging airstream;
wherein ice accretes on an ice-accretion portion of the convex exterior surface, in response to the housing engaging an airstream containing super-cooled water droplets,
wherein an aft-extent of the ice-accretion portion measured from the leading edge is indicative of the maximum size of the super-cooled water droplets, the indices on an ice-free portion of the convex exterior surface indicating the maximum size of the super-cooled water droplets.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.