Algorithmic Icing Detection for eVTOL/AAM Aircraft

View Video Presentation: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2022-3963.vid Research in component-level adaptation of a previously patented algorithmic approach for aircraft icing detection, dubbed the Icing Detection Filter (IDF), is described. The methodology leverages the substantial data available from modern electric motor controllers, found on eVTOL/AAM aircraft, to track performance offsets using a recursive observer structure to detect potential impacts of accreted ice on rotating components, and infer both icing accretion rates and performance losses on the host aircraft. Trends in performance losses due to icing are simulated using a free wake analysis on rotating components and measured in icing tests on representative components found on eVTOL/AAM aircraft. These trends support the model-based estimation algorithm to enhance icing detection robustness.