• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.2657-2666
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• 1995

In this study, the effects of design factors of finned-tube heat exchanger, such as fin spacing and fin array on the frost growth and heat exchanger performance are investigated under a frosting condition. The results show that the amount of frost, frost density and blockage ratio of air flow passage increase with decreasing fin spacing. Heat transfer rate increases momentarily at the initial stage of frosting and then decreases. After that heat transfer rate continues to increase again to reach a maximum value and then decreases dramatically. It is shown that the time required for heat transfer rate to reach a maximum value becomes shorter with decreasing fin spacing, and after a maximum value, heat transfer rate decreases very fast. The maximum allowable blockage ratio is introduced to determine the operation limit of a finned-tube heat exchanger operating under frosting condition and is obtained as a function of fin spacing. It is also shown that heat transfer rate of heat exchanger with staggered fin array increases about 17% and the amount of pressure drop of air increases about 1~2 mmH$_{2}$O, compared with those of in-line type heat exchanger under frosting condition.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.337-345
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• 2003

In the case of heat exchangers operating under frosting condition, the growth of frost layer causes the heat exchanger to increase the thermal resistance and pressure loss of the air flow. In this paper, a transient characteristic prediction model of the heat transfer for multi inverter heat pump with frosting on its surface was presented taking into account the change of the fin efficiency due to the growth of the frost layer. In this dynamic simulation program, which was peformed for a basic air conditioning system model, such as evaporator, condenser, compressor, linear electronic expansion valve (LEV) and bypass circuit. The theoretical model was driven from the obtained heat transfer coefficient and mass transfer coefficient, independently. And we consider heat transfer performance was only affected by a decrease of the wind flow area. The calculated results were compared with some cases of experiments for frosting conditions.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.113-122
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• 2004

In case of heat exchangers operating under frosting condition, the thermal resistance and the air-side pressure loss increase with a growth of frost layer. In this paper, a transient characteristic prediction model of the heat transfer for a multi-inverter heat pump with frosting on its surface was presented by taking into account the change of the fin efficiency due to the growth of the frost layer. This dynamic simulation program was developed for a basic air conditioning system composed of an evaporator, a condenser, a compressor, a linear electronic expansion valve, and a bypass circuit. The theoretical model was derived from measured heat transfer and mass transfer coefficients. We also considered that the heat transfer performance was only affected by the decrease of wind flow area. The calculated results were compared with the experimental results for frosting conditions.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
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• v.7
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• pp.101-111
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• 1999

The effect of various conditions of frosting and defrosting on the defrosting behavior of a fin-tube heat exchanger has been examined experimentally. An electric heater is used for defrosting in a fin-tube heat exchanger. There are several local maxima in the water draining rate. The amount of residual water on the heat exchanger after completion of defrosting is kept constant due to surface tension on the heat exchanger. Without considering degradation of the thermal performance due to the frosting, the defrosting efficiency is improved with increasing amount of frost irrespective of the frosting condition. The defrosting behavior is affected by frosting density as well as frost accumulation, both of which vary with the experimental operating conditions. The heat loss to the surrounding air decreases, and melting and defrosting efficiencies show high values with decreasing heat input.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.649-657
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• 1998

In this study, the effects of the various conditions of frosting and defrosting on the behavior of defrosting in a fin-tube heat exchanger have been examined experimentally. The electric heater is used for defrosting in a fin-tube heat exchanger It is shown that there are several local maxima in the water draining rate. The amount of residual water on the heat exchanger after the completion of defrosting is kept constant due to surface tension on the heat exchanger. Without considering the degradation of the thermal performance due to the frosting, the defrosting efficiency is improved with increasing amount of the frost irrespective of the frosting condition. The defrosting behavior is affected by the frosting density as well as the frost accumulation, which vary with the experimental operating conditions during the frosting period. The heat loss to the surrounding air decreases, and the melting and defrosting efficiencies show high values with decreasing heat input.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.440-447
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• 1999

The frosting characteristics on the vertical parallel plates with three cooling plates were experimentally investigated. The experimental parameters were the cooling plate temperature, the air humidity, the air temperature, the air Reynolds number, and the location. The frosting conditions were limited to air temperatures from 10 to $15^{\circ}C$ , air Reynolds numbers from 1600 to 2270, air humidity ratios from 0.00275 to 0.0037kgw/kga and cooling plate temperatures from -10 to $-20^{\circ}C$. Frost growth and density toward the front of the plate were more thick and dense than toward the rear. Frost growth increased with decreasing plate temperature and increasing humidity. In the conditions of the laminar flow, dew point below $0^{\circ}C$and non-cyclic frosting period, frost thickness increased with increasing air temperature. The reason of increasing frost thickness with increasing air temperature was sublimation-ablimation process. The average growth thickness along the locations showed little dependence on the Reynolds numbers.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.155-165
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• 1994

In this study, the following factors are investigated from experiments for a vertical parallel plate heat exchanger under the frosting condition ; the growth of frost layer, the characteristics of heat and mass transfer, the change of mass flow rate of the air passing through the heat exchanger, and the pressure drop of the air in the heat exchanger. The amount of heat and mass flux of water vapor transferred from the air stream to the heat exchanger surface is large at the early stage of frosting and then decreases dramatically, and the extent of decreasing rate becomes moderate with time. The frost layer formed near the inlet of the heat exchanger is thicker and denser than that formed near the outlet. It is found that the gradient of the amount of frost along the flow direction increases with time. In the early period of frost formation, the thermal resistance between the air and the cooling plate increases dramatically and then the extent of change decreases with time. Initially the convective thermal resistance is dominant. Then, while the convective thermal resistance decreases with time, the conductive thermal resistance continues to increase with time and finally the conductive thermal resistance becomes dominant.

• Proceedings of the SAREK Conference
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.252-257
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• 2007

The present study investigated the effect of air velocity on frost formation of slit fin-and-tube heat exchanger under frosting condition. The slit fin-and-tube heat exchanger with outer tube diameter 7.0mm and 1 row was used. Air side pressure drop, photographs of frost distribution, frost accumulation and frost thickness were presented with respect to the frosting time. In the early stage of experiment, the case with air velocity of 1.5m/s showed 403% higher for the air pressure drop than the case with the air velocity of 0.5m/s. As the frost was accumulated, the effect of air velocity on air pressure drop was decreased. In the end stage of test, air pressure drops of two cases were very close and air pressure drop for the air velocity of 0.5m/s was higher than that of 2.0m/s. It was also shown in the photographs of frost distribution, frost accumulation and frost thickness. From frost thickness, fanning friction factor was presented.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.62-70
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• 2005

In this study, the air-side heat transfer coefficients of several types of evaporators in the household freezer/refrigerators are investigated. The types considered in this work are: discrete flat plate fin-and-tube type(in-lined tube array), continuous flat plate fin-and-tube type(staggered tube array), and spine fin-and-tube type(in-lined tube array). The heat transfer correlations obtained from this study for each heat exchangers could expect heat transfer coefficients less than $5\%$ of errors. The result indicates that the air-side heat transfer performance of spine fin-and-tube type evaporator shows the highest value under dry conditions, but discrete flat plate fin-and-tube type evaporator shows the highest value among these three evaporators under frosting conditions.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.307-316
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• 2008

The objective of this study is to provide numerical and experimental data that can be used to investigate the performance characteristics of a flat plate fin-tube evaporator in household and commercial refrigerators under frosting conditions. Computer simulations with variations of operating conditions such as air inlet temperature, relative humidity, and geometries were performed to find out optimal design parameters of a fin-tube evaporator for household and commercial refrigerators. The tube-by-tube method was used in the simulation and the frost growth model was considered under frosting conditions. The developed analytical model predicted the decreasing rates of heat transfer capacity and air flow rate ratio within ${\pm}$10% compared to the experimental results for a refrigerator under real operating conditions. As a result, the frost thickness at $3^{\circ}C$ & 80% is increased 40% than that of $-3^{\circ}C$ & 80%, and the frost thickness at $3^{\circ}C$ & 90% is increased 30% than that of $3^{\circ}C$ & 60%. Accordingly, the operating time of the evaporator in the refrigerator was reduced with the increase of the decreasing rate of air flow rate ratio at each condition.