During Satellite 2011, at the W.B. Walton booth, it was quite obvious the interest in the Company's Gore-Tex Snow Shield remains high. The Snow shield is designed to prevent snow and ice from accumulating on satellite Earth Station Antennas, ranging in size from 0.6 meters to 6.3 meters in diameter, but does not apply to all antennas over 5 meters in size and larger. The passive snow shield system (US patent 5,729,238, additional patents pending) consists of a PTFE coated GORE-TEX® Fabric cover stretched over the reflector. This PTFE coating has the lowest coefficient of friction of any solid material, which makes it difficult for the snow and ice to adhere to the surface.Due to this PTFE coating, under most conditions, snow simply slides off the cover.
The Snow Shield PTFE coated Gore-Tex® Fabric covers are made from Radome material that will survive harsh chemical and extreme environmental conditions while providing the lowest transmission loss among all Radome materials. The GORE-TEX® Radome material will not tear, shrink, stretch or swell; and is guaranteed to exceed five years fabric life. These covers are lightweight, portable, resistant to weather and harsh environments. The fabric is inert and unaffected by the sunlight, UV or ozone. For applications where the weather conditions are more severe or high availability of the link is required, W.B. Walton Enterprises offers a wide selection of heaters that will force hot air between the Snow Shield and the antenna. This will remove the existing snow/ice that can accumulate under the right conditions, and will prevent any additional accumulations. Additionally, the Gore-Tex Snow Shield is lightweight and very portable.
