A De‐Icing Heater Element Applied by Spraying: Some Details of a Process by which a Conducting Heater Element can be Applied to Surfaces

D NAPIER and Son Ltd. have developed a thermal de‐icing or anti‐icing system which can be applied to any suitable surface by a sequence of spraying operations. An insulating layer of thermo‐setting resin is sprayed on to the aircraft skin where required with a flame gun. This is then given a light non‐metallic shot blast and a conducting layer of cither 99·5 per cent pure aluminium or of a copper alloy sprayed on to a uniform thickness. Thin strips of this are then scraped or cut away so that a pattern of conducting strips remains. A surface coat of the resin is then applied in the same way and polished. A hard pigmented coat of resin can be applied to suit the aircraft's colour scheme if required. Current is supplied through small terminals which have studs projecting through the‐aircraft skin to theconducting layer.