Influence of hydrodynamic parameters in plate heat exchangers in ice slurry transport

Abstract

Ice slurry is applied in different refrigeration and air conditioning systems, and among its main advantages is the ability to store latent heat and be pumpable as cold water. This fluid can be used for thermal storage instead of cold water or solid ice, since, at certain concentrations, it can be pumped through heat exchangers. For this technology to be widely used, the equipment must be designed considering the heat exchange characteristics. This study developed an experimental system to study the parameters that influence heat exchange, using ice slurry in a plate heat exchanger and water as a thermal load. Several situations with different flows and initial fractions of ice in ice slurry were analyzed. The input conditions of the thermal load were kept constant, the temperature, the pressure drop and the flow of the ice slurry in the heat exchanger were controlled, according to the Nusselt, Prandtl, and Reynolds coefficients. Results show that the global heat exchange coefficient increases with the increase of the initial ice fraction; the cooling capacity of the heat exchanger increases when ice slurry is used as a fluid. For flow rates greater than 0.16 kg/s and ice fractions above 11%, ice crystals are generated at the heat exchanger outlet, due to the ice slurry’s higher viscosity, at approximately 0.003 Pa at the outlet, since the pressure drop increases as the initial ice fraction increases. Results show ice slurry thermohydraulic behavior. Its use shows favorable characteristics in heat exchange.