Localized Characteristics of the First Three Typical Condensation Frosting Stages in the Edge Region of a Horizontal Cold Plate

Condensation frosting usually causes a negative influence on heat exchangers employed in engineering fields. As the relationships among the first three typical condensation frosting stages in the edge regions of cold plates are still unclear, an experimental study on the localized condensation frost...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Micromachines (Basel) 2022-11, Vol.13 (11), p.1906
Main Authors: Zhang, Long, Song, Mengjie, Chao, Christopher Yu Hang, Dang, Chaobin, Shen, Jun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Air conditioning
Cold
condensation frosting
Contact angle
Control systems
Design optimization
droplet size and distribution
Droplets
Edge effect
Equipment and supplies
Forced convection
Free convection
freezing wave propagation
Frost
frost layer surface roughness
Heat exchangers
Heat transfer
Heating
Humidity
Morphology
Propagation
Temperature
Velocity
Water drops
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Summary:Condensation frosting usually causes a negative influence on heat exchangers employed in engineering fields. As the relationships among the first three typical condensation frosting stages in the edge regions of cold plates are still unclear, an experimental study on the localized condensation frosting characteristics in the edge region of a cold plate was conducted. The edge effects on the water droplet condensation (WDC), water droplet frozen (WDF) and frost layer growth characteristics were quantitatively investigated. The results showed that the number of droplets coalescing in the edge-affected regions was around 50% greater than in the unaffected regions. At the end of the WDC stages, the area-average equivalent contact diameter and coverage area ratio of water droplets in the edge-affected regions were 2.69 times and 11.6% greater than those in the unaffected regions under natural convection, and the corresponding values were 2.24 times and 9.9% under forced convection. Compared with the unaffected regions, the WDF stage duration in the edge-affected regions decreased by 63.6% and 95.3% under natural and forced convection, respectively. Additionally, plate-type and feather-type frost crystals were, respectively, observed in natural and forced convection. The results of this study can help in the better understanding of the condensation frosting mechanism on a cold plate, which provides guidelines for optimizing the design of heat exchanger structures and system control strategies facing frosting problems.
ISSN:2072-666X
2072-666X
DOI:10.3390/mi13111906