Background

The icing of airport runways is a major safety hazard that affects the safety of aviation flights. In the history of civil aviation, there were several runway excursions due to the icing of the runway. As a result, airports use a variety of methods to deice the runway. And the common method performed in aviation is deicing with chemical fluids by lowering the freezing point. Thus, to meet the demand for the unfrozen runway in the winter season, a sufficient supply of deicing fluid should be guaranteed. In this case, Linovision LoRaWAN® Ultrasonic Level Sensor can be deployed inside the storage tank to monitor the fluid level for the safe level of runway deicing fluid.

Challenges

• Timely report of shortage of runway deicing fluid

• Chemical deicing fluid deals damage to the sensor

• Requirement for long-term maintenance-free solution

Solution

Normally, the chemicals used to deice runways can pose a hazard to submersible level monitoring sensors. Equipped with IP67 and industrial-grade enclosure, Linovision IOT500-UDL Ultrasonic Distance/Level Sensor provides highly accurate and contact-free distance measurement in harsh environments. When mounted at the inner top of the deicing fluid tank, IOT500-UDL emits a high-frequency acoustic pulse from its transducer. The pulse travels through the air gap, reflects against the deicing fluid surface and returns to the transducer. IOT500-UDL measures the pulse time of flight and converts this into the level height of deicing fluid. What’s more, the built-in 19000 mAh high-capacity battery makes IOT500-UDL suitable for 10-years maintenance-free applications.

Once fluid level reaches the threshold, LoRaWAN® based IOT500-UDL will immediately report the level height to Linovision IoT Cloud or third-party cloud platforms, notifying admins of the shortage of deicing fluid. By implementing the Linovision deicing fluid level monitoring solution, the airport can keep the runway unfrozen without the accidental shortage of deicing fluid.