Abstract
This paper has dealt with the direct contact heat exchange characteristics between ice particles (average ice particle diameter : 3.10mm) packed in the rectangular cold energy storage vessel and flowing hot air as a heat transfer medium. The hot air bubbles ascended in the fluidized ice particles layer, and they were cooled down directly by melting ice particles. The temperature efficiency increased as Reynolds number Re increased because the hot air flowing in the layer became active. The dehumidity efficiency increased with an increase in modified Stefan number and Re, since the heat capacity of inlet air and heat transfer coefficient increased. Finally, some empirical correlations for temperature efficiency, dehumidity efficiency and the completion time of cold energy release were derived in terms of various nondimensional parameters.
