Parabolic antenna snow melting and removal using waste heat from the transmitter room

Abstract

Abstract This study simulated snow melting and removal using hot waste heat air generated in a transmitter room which was used to melt and remove snow from a satellite antenna. The air was supplied at 30\u202f°C and 20\u202fm/s and removed the 10\u202fmm thick snow cover within 17.6\u202fmin with the snowmelt consuming 135\u202fW/m2 with an average melting rate of 0.57\u202fmm/min. The heat dissipation from the waste heat air to melt snow could be on the order of 25.7–51.38\u202fkW for wind speeds of 10–20\u202fm/s. Thus, this waste heat snow melting system can reduce the power consumption by 32.0–50.8\u202fkW compared with the conventional electric de-icing equipment which would reduce the power consumption by 68.1–91.0%, while also reducing the air conditioning power consumption by 2.9–5.8%.