Abstract
Ice-storage system for air-conditioning by utilizing off-peak night time power service provides a good way of energy saving. In the present study, a new type ice-storage system has been proposed, which contains granular-ice crystals of some millimeter in diameter. This syatem has several advantages; for example, high ice-making efficiency, high responsibility and simplicity. Fundamental experiments were carried out to seek conditions to produce granular-ice crystals successively; They were formed through injecting water droplets into a low temperature immiscible coolant with the specific gravity smaller than water. Their formation processes were observed in a small transparent ice-storage tank of 50cm depth. As an immiscible coolant, kerosene has been utilized. Smooth granular-ices with uniform dimension were produced successively at the set-temperature lower than -20°C. Discussions have been made on the improvement of this method for practical application.
