A study was conducted of the thermal characteristics of the ASDE-3 system's rotating radome (rotodome), a spheri-toroidal thin wall structure, approximately 18 feet in diameter and 6 feet in height. The purpose of the study was to determine the thermal transmissivities of the various regions of the design, discover 'hot spots,' determine the need for insulation, heater exhaust deflectors and other enhancements, and to make a prediction of the ability of its heaters to prevent system outages due to ice accretion on the rotodome. An analysis made using test data to predict the ability of the rotodome to resist icing conditions was very encouraging, demonstrating that convection becomes the dominant mode of heat loss during high wind conditions. A conservative analysis was made with winds applied at full velocity across all regions of the rotodome. The results indicate that the goal of de-icing the rotodome appears achievable using 30 kW of power. Although there are hot spots about the rotodome, the de-icing function using the hot air blower system is satisfactory. To reduce hot spots near the blower assembly, a deflector is recommended at the output of the blower.
Eight airport sites and the FAA Oklahoma Depot were visited and surveys conducted to obtain reliability, maintainability and performance data on the A...
This report presents the results of a study performed by the Transportation Systems Center (TSC) to evaluate two proposed enhancements to the performa...
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