What is meant by "counter flow" here? The usual term of a fluid
flowing in the opposite direction? How do they get the methanol to
flow against that wind?
I would have assumed methanol de-icing meant something like spraying
methanol into the airstream upstream of the heat exchanger, but that
wouldn't be counterflow.
Evan Daniel
On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 11:32 AM, Keith Henson <hkeithhenson@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Norman Yarvin <yarvin@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
I'm also wondering about something even more basic: what are theygoing to do about condensation freezing up on the heat exchanger?
They solved this years ago but it was kept a trade secret until the
AFRL got involved, then they patented it.
I had figured they used a superhydrophobic coating on the tubes where
the water would never stick but just hop off as it condensed. But no,
they use a counter flow of methanol to keep ice off the tubes. This
has been tested at close to full scale.
Keith