Aeronautical probe with integrated heater

• US 8,397,563 B2
• Filed: 11/28/2008
• Issued: 03/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thales SA
• Original Assignee: Thales SA
• Inventors: Pineau, Jean-Philippe, Ledain, Bernard
• Primary Examiner(s): Caputo, Lisa
• Assistant Examiner(s): JENKINS, JERMAINE L
• Application Number:
  US12/745,556
• Publication Number:
  US 20110036160A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,572 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 73/170.02
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 13/025 indicating air data, i.e. flight variables of an aircraft, e.g. angle of attack, side slip, shear, yaw

Abstract

The invention relates to an aeronautical probe designed to be mounted on the skin of an aircraft and comprising a probe body protruding from the skin of the aircraft and a heater for de-icing an external surface of the probe body. According to the invention, the heater comprises two self-supporting electrodes and heating resistive elements. Each electrode is formed of an electrically insulating substrate and of an electrically active portion forming one face of the electrode in question. Each resistive element is in contact with the faces of the electrodes. The notable advantages of the invention are that it makes it possible to reduce the operating temperature of the resistive elements and the phenomena of fatigue in the mechanical link between the electrodes and the resistive elements due to different expansion coefficients.

Claims

1. An aeronautical probe designed to be mounted on the skin of an aircraft and comprising a probe body protruding from the skin of the aircraft and a heater for de-icing an outer surface of the probe body, wherein the heater comprises two self-supporting electrodes and heating resistive elements, each electrode being formed of an electrically insulating substrate and of an electrically active portion forming one face of the electrode, each resistive element being in contact with the faces of the electrodes.

2. The probe according to claim 1, wherein the electrically active portions are a metallic deposit made on the substrates.

3. The probe according to claim 1, wherein the resistive elements are positive temperature coefficient resistors.

4. The probe according to claim 1, wherein the resistive elements are ceramic blocks.

5. The probe according to claim 4, wherein the ceramic blocks and the ceramic elements of the electrodes have substantially equal thermal expansion coefficients.

6. The probe according to claim 1, wherein the substrate of each electrode is a ceramic element.

7. The probe according to claim 6, wherein the ceramic blocks and the ceramic elements of the electrodes have substantially equal thermal expansion coefficients.

8. The probe according to claim 1, wherein the resistive elements have a parallelepipedic shape and in that they are placed in parallel between the two electrodes.

9. The probe according to claim 1, wherein the substrate of each electrode is a ceramic plate.

10. The probe according to claim 1, wherein the resistive elements are brazed onto the faces of the electrodes.

11. The probe according to claim 10, wherein the braze or the adhesive is chosen so that the assembly consisting of the electrodes and of the resistive elements withstands an infinity of temperature-variation cycles in operation.

12. The probe according to claim 1, wherein the resistive elements are bonded to the faces of the electrodes.

13. The probe according to claim 12, wherein the braze or the adhesive is chosen so that the assembly consisting of the electrodes and of the resistive elements withstands an infinity of temperature-variation cycles in operation.

14. The probe according to claim 1, wherein the probe body has a cavity, the heater being inserted into the cavity, the substrate of the electrodes being in contact with the inner walls of the cavity.

15. The probe according to claim 1, wherein the electrodes of the heater form the probe body.

16. The probe according to claim 1, wherein the probe is a wind vane for measuring the orientation of the wind and comprises a rotating base and a plate that is oriented in the direction of the wind and attached by a join to the rotating base, the heater being inserted into the plate.