Characteristic of Heat Exchanger Operating with Snow Melting. (1st Report, Melting of Piled Snow).

Abstract

The characteristics of a heat exchanger for the melting of piled snow were investigated theoretically and experimentally. By assuming steady state distributions in temperature and water content in a snow body, a quasi-state model of the melting of piled snow was presented and was expanded to the performance of heat exchanger operating with snow melting. The predicted results were in agreement with the experimental results obtained using compacted snow on a rubber heat exchanger. In case of the melting of subcooled snow, the melting efficiency becomes higher with a higher inlet brine temperature because a shorter melting time leads to a lower heat loss to surroundings.