Dynamic ice-melting characteristics of carbon dioxide laser irradiation under natural convection

Icing is widespread in the aviation and power fields and leads to numerous safety incidents. Laser deicing technology is a typical high-efficiency and noncontact deicing method. To accurately evaluate and control the laser-induced ice melting process, the experiments on melting characteristics of clear ice and bubble ice under horizontal and vertical CO2 laser irradiation are carried out with laser powers of 20-60W. When clear ice is irradiated horizontally and vertically, the maximum instantaneous melting rates at 40W are 4.35 and 13.95mm/s, respectively. The final average melting heights of clear ice at 40W under two irradiation directions are 8.76 and 3.58mm, respectively. When the clear ice and bubble ice are irradiated vertically, the average melting rates within 60mm at 40W are 4.29 and 5.46mm/s, respectively. The energy efficiency gradually increases with the increase of melting hole depth. When the depth of the melting hole reaches about 100mm, the energy efficiency of clear ice under horizontal and vertical irradiation is 76.07% and 62.15% at 20W, respectively. This study is meaningful for the optimization of laser deicing technology.