De-icing of fuel/oil heat exchange systems via fuel flow direction switching device

Abstract Fuel icing of fuel/oil heat exchange systems has been a troublesome issue. In this study, a de-icing method is proposed to manage the fuel icing problem by switching the fuel flow direction of the systems. This method uses the fuel/oil heat exchanger as a passive heat source, heat and momentum of the fuel are delivered to the ice. A device named FFDSD (Fuel flow direction switching device) has been developed for this method. This device consists of two normally open and two closed type solenoid valves, and the proposed configuration consumes electrical power only when switching fuel flow directions (36 W to 0 W). A control algorithm has been developed as a countermeasure against a large amount of ice inflow that conventional methods cannot cope with. FFDSD was designed and fabricated, and the experimental test was conducted. The experimental results show that the proposed method can successfully achieve the de-icing of the fuel system within 1 s. A numerical de-icing process was attempted. Ice in fuel was numerically modeled as a fluidized quasi-solid material based on descriptions in previous studies. Numerical analysis results show a similar tendency to experimental results. The results of this study would be useful to manage fuel icing problem of heat exchange systems.