An ice detector is an instrument that detects the presence of
ice
Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...
on a surface. Ice detectors are used to identify the presence of
icing conditions
In aeronautics, icing is the atmospheric icing, formation of water ice on an aircraft.
Icing has resulted in numerous aviation accidents and incidents, fatal accidents in aviation history.
Ice accretion and accumulation can affect the external s ...
and are commonly used in aviation,
unmanned aircraft
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human Aircraft pilot, pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter H ...
, marine vessels,
wind energy
Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ...
, and power lines.
Ice detection can be done with direct and indirect methods. Direct methods identify the presence of
atmospheric icing
Atmospheric icing occurs in the atmosphere when water droplets suspended in air freeze on objects they come in contact with. It is not the same as freezing rain, which is caused directly by precipitation.
Atmospheric icing occurs on aircraft, ...
conditions, i.e. the presence of
supercooled water
Supercooling, also known as undercooling, is the process of lowering the temperature of a liquid below its freezing point without it becoming a solid. Per the established international definition, supercooling means ''‘cooling a substance be ...
droplets. Indirect methods infer the presence of icing conditions by either detecting ice accretions on a surface, or by changed vehicle performance behavior.
References
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Aircraft instruments
Detectors