US Patent Issued to Textron Innovations on Sept. 29 for "Mechanical de-icing system" (Kansas Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 30 -- United States Patent no. 12,747,024, issued on Sept. 29, was assigned to Textron Innovations Inc. (Providence, R.I.).

"Mechanical de-icing system" was invented by Steven Ryan Schafer (Wichita, Kan.) and Gonzalo Eduardo Mendoza (Wichita, Kan.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A de-icing system for an airfoil includes a flexible skin having one or more stiffening elements embedded therein and one or more actuators positioned within the airfoil and configured to engage an impact area of the flexible skin with a displacement force. The stiffening elements extend substantially parallel to the leading edge of an airfoil and are placed in a chordwise succession proceeding a...