The process of de-icing removes ice and snow from an airplane. De-icing is crucial for safety reasons since ice and snow increase the weight of an airplane and adversely affect aerodynamics. Airplanes must be de-iced immediately prior to take-off so that the protective effect lasts sufficiently long. As per ISO/SAE, there are liquids of types I, II, III and IV which are diluted with water (100, 75 or 50 %) or remain undiluted, depending on the required protective effect. Whether or not an airplane is de-iced and what the mixture should be is up to the decision of the pilot or a person authorized by the pilot.
Due to the viscous consistency of the de-icing agent, the measuring system in three cylindrical tanks with a height of 3 m on a German airport kept failing or delivering incorrect measurement results. The measuring system was replaced with the AFRISO SonarFox UST 10 ultrasonic transmitter which solved the problem. UST 10 is suitable for the continuous non-contact measurement of liquids and bulk solids of various consistencies; type, density and temperature of the medium as well as installations or stirrers below a suitable level surface of the medium do not affect the measurement. The ultrasonic transmitter was fitted with a local display for visualisation and programming (programming display PD10 UST). The airport operator also wanted to be able to read the level in the tanks with the de-icing agent in the control room so the transmitter was also connected to the AFRISO VarioFox digital display and control unit. VarioFox is a universal measuring and control unit that comes ready to be connected and features freely configurable units and scalable start and end values; this allows for a great variety of configurations. Automatic calculation formulas for horizontal, cylindrical tanks as well as spherical tanks are stored in the device so that a signal that is proportional to the volume can be transmitted and directly displayed. The airport now has a reliable solution and insufficient supply of de-icing agent will not cause interruptions of the air traffic.
Due to the viscous consistency of the de-icing agent, the measuring system in three cylindrical tanks with a height of 3 m on a German airport kept failing or delivering incorrect measurement results. The measuring system was replaced with the AFRISO SonarFox UST 10 ultrasonic transmitter which solved the problem. UST 10 is suitable for the continuous non-contact measurement of liquids and bulk solids of various consistencies; type, density and temperature of the medium as well as installations or stirrers below a suitable level surface of the medium do not affect the measurement. The ultrasonic transmitter was fitted with a local display for visualisation and programming (programming display PD10 UST). The airport operator also wanted to be able to read the level in the tanks with the de-icing agent in the control room so the transmitter was also connected to the AFRISO VarioFox digital display and control unit. VarioFox is a universal measuring and control unit that comes ready to be connected and features freely configurable units and scalable start and end values; this allows for a great variety of configurations. Automatic calculation formulas for horizontal, cylindrical tanks as well as spherical tanks are stored in the device so that a signal that is proportional to the volume can be transmitted and directly displayed. The airport now has a reliable solution and insufficient supply of de-icing agent will not cause interruptions of the air traffic.
