Investigation on an Inkjet Printed Passive Sensor for Wireless Ice Detection on Wind Rotor Blades

Wireless reliability tests of lightweight composite materials by electromagnetic waves have become more and more interesting in the aerospace and automotive fields. The embedding of conductive printed patterns as electromagnetic resonators seems to be one of the useful techniques. The printing technology is a resource as well as time and cost efficient fabrication method to manufacture electronic devices. In particular, contactless and digital technologies like inkjet printing have great potential to be combined with integration processes like resin infusion technology. The combination of these manufacturing processes enables fast and efficient production of smart lightweight applications. The main focus of this work is the manufacture of a passive high frequency resonator on flexible substrates using inkjet printing. The conductive patterns are integrated into a composite material by resin infusion, enabling sensor applications in the field of clean energy, particularly for wireless ice detection on wind rotor blades.