Spinoff story

Iceproofing Helicopters

A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.

About this technology

Overview

United Technologies adapted NASA's Lewis Research Center's wind tunnel. This tunnel is used for injecting supercooled water droplets into the wind thereby simulating a natural icing cloud and observing how ice builds up on various shaped surfaces. From Lewis, Sikorsky engineers obtained information which optimized the design of inlet anti-ice system. Resulting design proved to be an effective anti-icing modification for the flying crane. Sikorsky is also using additional Lewis icing research tunnel data in its development of a new VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) aircraft.