Behavior of frost formed on heat exchanger fins

열교환기 휜에서의 착상 거동

This paper proposes an improved mathematical model for predicting the frosting behavior on a two-dimensional fin considering the heat conduction of heat exchanger fins under frosting conditions. The model consists of laminar flow equation in airflow, diffusion equation of water vapor for frost layer, and heat conduction equation in fin, and these are coupled together. In this model, the change in three-dimensional airside airflow caused by frost growth is accounted for. The fin surface temperature increased toward the fin tip due to the fin heat conduction. On the contrary, the temperature gradient in the airflow direction(x-dir.) is small throughout the entire fin. The frost thickness in the direction perpendicular to airflow, i.e. z-dir., decreases exponentially toward the fin tip due to non-uniform temperature distribution. The rate of decrease of heat transfer in the airflow direction is high compared to that in the z-direction due to more decrease in the sensible and latent heat rate in x-direction.