Study of thermal performance with frosting under forced convection on a flat plate (Prediction of frost growth using non-homogeneous property)

A purpose of this study is that unsteady exaluation of thermal performance of heat exchanger with frosting and decision of optimal defrosting cycle. Because increase of flow resistance is the principal factor of a drop of heat transfer performances with frosting, thermal performance characteristics were examined. Based on that experimental result, we proposed one-dimensional non-homogeneous frost growth model, and compared with the experimental data in time and space. In a non-homogeneous model with the frost property distribution taken into account, it shows that density similar to the experimental result can be predicted. It is possible to make prediction closer to the experimental result as compared with the conventional homogeneous model with respect to the time variation of frost height.