A320 ATA 30 Technical Notes are brief and to-the-point information about the Airbus A320 ice and rain protection, including its components and their functions. ATA chapter 30 is about ice and rain protection which includes the systems for preventing or disposing of the formation of ice and rain on various parts of the aircraft.
A320 ICE AND RAIN PROTECTION
The Airbus A320 ice and rain protection system allows the aircraft to operate normally in ice conditions or heavy rain. Ice protection is provided by using hot air, or electrical power, to make the necessary areas of the aircraft hot. Rain is removed from the windshield with windshield wipers.
HOT AIR
- Leading edge of the slats 3, 4 and 5 on each wing.
- Engine air intakes.
- WING ANTI ICE
- Air is supplied through one ANTI ICE valve (pressure regulating and shut-off valve) in each wing.
- The WING pushbutton on the ANTI ICE panel controls the valves.
- When the aircraft is on ground, the flight crew can initiate a 30 s test sequence by turning the system ON.
- ENGINE ANTI-ICE
- Each engine has its own anti-ice system, with an independent hot bleed air source.
- ENG1, ENG2 – pushbutton on the ANTI ICE panel.
ELECTRICAL HEATING
- Cockpit windshield and side windows
- The aircraft uses electrical heating for anti-icing each windshield and defogging the cockpit side windows.
- 2 Window Heat Computers (WHCs).
- Windshield heating operates at low power on the ground and at normal power in flight.
- Probes
- Pitot probes
- Static ports
- Angle-Of-Attack (AOAs) probes
- Total Air Temperature (TAT) probes
- 3 Probe Heat Computers (PHCs)
- Captain probes
- F/O probes
- STBY probes
- The probes are heated:
- Automatically when at least one engine is running, or when the aircraft is in flight.
- Manually, when the flight crew switches ON the PROBE/WINDOW HEAT pb.
- Waste-water drain-masts
- There are two drain masts installed on the lower fuselage forward and aft sections.
- When the electrical system is powered, the waste water drain masts are also electrically heated.
- Two control units control the heating of the forward and aft drain masts.
RAIN REMOVAL
- Wipers and rain repellent fluid – remove rain from the front windshield panels.
- The wiper system is designed to work efficiently up to 200 knots.
- a rotary selector controls each wiper. “SLOW” or “FAST” speed can be selected. The selector switch can optionally have an “INTerMiTtent” position.
- Do not operate the wipers on a dry windshield.
ICE DETECTION
- An external visual ice indicator with an integral light is installed between the two windshields.
- It is visible to both pilots.
- Its illumination is controlled by a switch (INT LT/ICE IND & STBY COMPASS) located on panel 25VU.
- The ice detection system (if installed) has two separate ice detectors on the forward lower section of the fuselage. The ice detectors send an “ice detected” signal directly to the Flight Warning Computers (FWCs).
SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
- If the PHC or WHC power Circuit Breakers (C/Bs) are pulled, the probe or window heat will come on.
- Pulling the EIU C/B will have the same result. The EIU controls the “engine running” signal for automatic operation. If any of these C/Bs are pulled, all of the heater C/Bs must also be pulled.
