Adeel Yousuf disputerer for ph.d.-graden i ingeniørvitenskap / Adeel Yousuf will defend his thesis for the PhD degree in Engineering Science
Adeel Yousuf disputerer for ph.d.-graden i ingeniørvitenskap og vil offentlig forsvare avhandlingen / Adeel Yousuf will defend his thesis for the PhD degree in Engineering Science:
“Design of an Intelligent Ice Protection System”.
Avhandlingen er tilgjengelig her / The doctoral thesis is available here.
Auditoriet er åpent for publikum. Disputasen vil også bli strømmet. Opptak av disputasen vil være tilgjengelig i en måned. / The auditorium is open to the public. The defense will be streamed. A recording of the defense will be available for one month.
Prøveforelesningen starter kl. 10:15 / The trial lecture starts at 10:15. Tittel:
“Autonomous and Intelligent Systems for Extreme Environments: From Sensing and Decision-Making to Resilient Infrastructure”.
Disputasen starter kl. 12:15 / The defense starts at 12:15.
Prøveforelesning strømmes her, disputas strømmes her / The trial lecture will be streamed here, and defense will be streamed here.
Sammendrag av avhandlingen / Summary of the thesis:
Ice accretion presents critical challenge for infrastructure and operations in cold regions globally, particularly in the High North – encompassing Arctic and sub-Arctic zones. The strategic importance of these regions has intensified driven by the pursuit of increased exploration of untapped energy resources, expanding polar trade routes due to melting Arctic ice, and geopolitical interests among stakeholder nations. When icing events cannot be avoided, robust and autonomous ice protection systems become essential to mitigate hazardous consequences for both personnel and machinery.
This research details the development of a cost-effective, energy-efficient ice protection system (IPS), progressing from conceptual design to prototype demonstration. The system integrates active infrared thermography for ice detection with electrothermal heating for mitigation. A key innovation is the deployment of low-cost, low-resolution thermal cameras addressing the prohibitive expense and maintenance burden of conventional high-end scientific cameras in outdoor environments. The research encompasses qualitative and quantitative thermal analysis of continuous and pulsed heating strategies during both de-icing and anti-icing modes. The research methodology employs numerical and analytical modelling to investigate heat transfer phenomena, which are subsequently validated by experiments conducted in cold climate lab in subzero temperatures. Following lab validation, developed system underwent comprehensive field-testing during the winter season experience all relevant weather conditions: snowfall, rain, and sunshine.
The resulting ice protection system demonstrates exceptional cost-efficiency in both its architecture and operation. The design expenditure of this entire integrated system is significantly lower than the cost of a single medium-to-high-resolution scientific thermal camera. Furthermore, operational data indicates, if a traditional continuously powered anti-icing system spends 46.08 kWh per day, the adopted cyclic anti-icing strategy will require only 3.84 kWh at the optimized cycle interval of 33 sec, representing a 91.6% reduction in energy consumption. The designed system is portable, and the research findings are reproducible. With the successful deployment the system successfully achieved Technology Readiness Level 6 (TRL-6). Numerical modelling functions as a digital twin for the heating system optimisation, while analytical model derived from infrared imagery serves as a diagnostic tool for monitoring heater integrity.
This research contributes a scalable, intelligent approach to the winterization of onshore and offshore structures, ensuring operational continuity in extreme sub-zero environments.
Hovedveileder / Main supervisor:
As. Professor Hassan Abbas Khawaja, Department of Automation and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
Biveileder / Co-supervisor:
Professor Muhammad Shakeel Virk, Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Science and Technology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway.
Bedømmelseskomité / Evaluation committee:
Prøveforelesning og disputas ledes av prodekan for forskning, Prof. Bjarte Hoff / The trial lecture and defense are led by Vice Dean of research, Prof. Bjarte Hoff.
De som ønsker å opponere ex auditorio kan sende e-post til Bjarte Hoff / Opponents ex auditorio should contact Bjarte Hoff.