Experimental Analysis of the Effect of Icing an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles In Multicopter Configuration

Icing, as one of the most dangerous phenomena occurring in aviation, is caused by the action of supercooled water droplets upon impact with critical surfaces of aircraft. It increases the weight of the aircraft, disrupts the airflow and affects the operation of critical instrumentation. Unmanned aerial vehicles are even more prone to icing due to their smaller size and weight. This paper investigates the formation of icing on these vehicles using an experimental model. The mechanism consists of an electric motor-driven rotor, which is exposed to icing conditions during measurements with several types of propellers. During experiments, formation of ice deposits was observed on each of the propellers. Character of icing depended on several factors, including the type of propeller used, intensity of applied water droplets, duration of icing conditions and, last but not least, type of the meteorological situation. The result of the work was to find out how ice deposits affect unmanned aerial vehicles and their performance characteristics in order to prevent icing on unmanned aerial vehicles in future as much as possible.