Piedmont Propulsion Systems, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Collaborated On The Project

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Piedmont Propulsion Systems, LLC (PPS) recently concluded their successful anti-icing research under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) and the two organizations are making their findings public.

The project’s purpose was to develop surface treatments that will inhibit the formation of ice on turbine blades and propellers. It was an opportunity to foster collaboration between ORNL and PPS with the goal of creating new surface treatments for aviation and wind turbines, among other applications. The surface coatings developed were based on superhydrophobic particles dispersed in polymeric binders. Future research will involve understanding the effect of electrical conductivity of the surface treatment.

Paul Bolton, PPS’s Chief Engineer and study participant said “This is our second successful CRADA with ORNL and it is an honor to work with such a distinguished scientific organization in our efforts to advance research into solving critical aviation safety issues. We believe making our preliminary research publicly available is in the best interest of furthering aviation safety.”

This research is supported by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy – Advanced Manufacturing Office under the Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL. AMO supports applied research, development and demonstration of new materials and processes for energy efficiency in manufacturing as well as platform technologies for the manufacturing of clean energy products.

(Source: Piedmont Propulsion Systems news release)

FMI: www.piedmontpropulsion.com/crada2, www.ornl.gov