An experimental study of direct-contact heat transfer of ice formation

Abstract

An alternative direct-contact heat transfer in ice formations has been proven for efficient ice production method of thermal storage for cooling purpose. It maintains constant thermal resistance during ice formation process, which has better performance than conventional indirect ice formation method. In this study, the experimental investigation in ice formation on pilot scale direct-contact heat exchanger was conducted with capacity of ice formation of 1.5 refrigeration ton. The HFC-134a has been used as contact refrigerant with a mass flux in the direct-contact column varying from 0.98 to 2.19kg/m²s. The results show that water was frozen as a porous small grain slurry at 8.5°C resulting in higher refrigerator's coefficient of perfermance (COP) than conventional ice produciton systems.