Icing on power lines can wreak havoc, leaving people without heat and electricity for weeks. At airports, planes can face endless delays waiting to be treated from ice with toxic chemical solvents.
Now, however, Canadian researchers have found a solution to winter icing from an unlikely source: gentoo penguins.
In a study published this week, scientists at McGill University in Montreal have unveiled a wire mesh structure that can wrap around power lines, the sides of boats and even aircraft and prevent chemicals from being used without the use of chemicals. surface.
Scientists have taken inspiration from the wings of gentoo penguins, which swim in the icy waters near Antarctica and stay ice-free even when temperatures are well below freezing.
“Animals have… a very zen way of communicating with nature,” Ann Kitzig, lead researcher on the study, said in an interview. “It could be something to watch and replicate.”
Ice storms are causing more damage as climate change makes winter storms more severe. In Texas last year, snow and ice disrupted daily life and shut down the power grid, leaving millions without heat, food and water for days and killing hundreds.
Scientists, city officials and industry leaders have long struggled to keep ice storms out of the way during the winter. They supply power lines, wind turbines and airplane wings with de-icing packs or rely on chemical solvents to remove them quickly.
But anti-icing experts say the fixes leave a lot to be desired. The shelf life of packaging materials is short. The use of chemicals is time consuming and harmful to the environment.
Kitzig, whose research focuses on using nature to solve complex human problems, has spent years trying to find the best way to deal with ice. At first, she thought that the lotus leaf might be a candidate because it naturally flows and cleanses. But scientists realized that it wouldn’t work in heavy rain conditions, she said.
After that, Kitzig and her team went to the Montreal Zoo, home to gentoo penguins. They were intrigued by penguin feathers and teamed up to delve deeper into the design.
They found that feathers naturally hold back ice. Michael Wood, a researcher on the project with Kitzig, said the feathers are arranged in a hierarchical order that allows them to flow naturally, and their natural spiky surface reduces ice sticking.
The researchers replicated the design using laser technology to create a woven wire mesh. They then tested the adhesion of the mesh to ice in a wind tunnel and found that it was 95 percent more resistant to icing than a standard stainless steel surface. They add that no chemical solvents are needed either.
The mesh could also be attached to aircraft wings, Kitzig said, but the requirements of federal air safety regulations would make such design changes difficult to implement in the short term.
Kevin Golovin, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Toronto, said the most intriguing part of this anti-icing solution is that it is the wire mesh that makes it durable.
Other solutions, such as anti-icing rubber or lotus leaf-inspired surfaces, are not resilient.
“They work very well in the lab,” said Golovin, who was not involved in the study. “They don’t translate well there.”