New Clean Aviation project on low-power ice protection systems

The NTNU UAV Icing Lab has obtained funding for a new European research project on ice protection systems for future aircraft. The project DELIA – Development and Demonstration of a Smart, Low-power, Hybrid Ice Protection System for Ultra-Efficient Regional Aircraft has been selected for funding through the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking Call 4.

DELIA is one of the projects selected within Clean Aviation’s Fast Track Areas. In total, 19 new projects have been approved under Call 4, with €290 million in EU funding and €664 million in total research effort. The projects aim to bring new aviation technologies closer to full-scale demonstration and support the development of more efficient aircraft towards 2035.

Future regional aircraft are expected to rely increasingly on hybrid-electric and other energy-efficient propulsion technologies. At the same time, these aircraft need reliable protection against atmospheric icing. Conventional ice protection systems can require substantial amounts of energy and add weight and complexity to the aircraft. This creates a need for ice protection technologies that can provide the required level of protection while reducing their power demand.

DELIA will address this challenge by developing a smart hybrid ice protection system that combines several technologies. The project will progress from numerical icing simulations and laboratory development to integrated icing wind tunnel demonstrations. One of the main goals is to reduce the peak power demand of the electrothermal ice protection system while maintaining effective protection under representative aircraft icing conditions.

The NTNU UAV Icing Lab will lead the work on aircraft requirements and icing simulations and contribute to the numerical optimisation of the electrothermal ice protection system, adaptive control, system integration and experimental validation. NTNU will also coordinate the technology and certification readiness assessment.

The DELIA consortium brings together expertise in icing aerodynamics, materials, sensors, electrothermal ice protection, aircraft systems and experimental testing. The partners are AIMEN, von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), SINTEF, Pegasus Research & Development, UBIQ Aerospace, and the National Research Council of Canada.

With DELIA, we are looking forward to extending our research on UAV icing and ice protection towards the next generation of ultra-efficient regional aircraft.