Abstract: A circuit model of the electro-impulse de-icing system is developed to obtain the theoretical impulse current with/without diodes. By analyzing the calculated and experimental current, a half sine current function is proposed to simplify the de-icing excitation in the electromagnetic field analysis. The magnetic pressure distribution is simulated in different current methods. The response displacement is solved by structural dynamic analysis under different pressure conditions. Comparison of the experimental and simulated displacement of the the center of the aluminum plate shows good agreement of the response displacement, which indicates that it is feasible to use the half sine current function to simplify the de-icing excitation. Furthermore, influential factors of the impulse response are studied based on the half sine current, such as the current, electrical frequency, the thickness, elastic modulus, density, and ratio of length and width of the aluminum plate. The study concludes that the maximum response displacement increases with the current. However, it decreases with the thickness, elastic modulus and density of the aluminum plate. It changes with the electrical frequency but hardly with the ratio of length and width of the aluminum plate. Moreover, the relationship of the electrical frequency and the natural frequency of the structure is defined as 1:1 as the foundation to design the impulse circuit of the electro-impulse de-icing system.

Key words: electro-impulse de-icing system, impulse circuit, impulse current, pressure distribution, maximum response displacement, influential factor