Numerical study on frosting characteristics of air coolers.

Air cooler frosting will seriously affect the performance of theheat transfer processas well as thewhole refrigeration system.The mathematical model of the frosting process was studied, which took into the correlation of air pressure and air flow rate.The frosting characteristics(frost thickness, frost density, frost mass, andair pressure drop) were calculated and analyzedunder different frosting conditions (inlet air temperature, relative humidity, and air coolers structure). The numerical study results showedthat frost thickness, frost mass andair pressure drop increase faster, and the air flow ratere duce fast erunder conditionswhere the inlet air temperature and relative humidityare higher. Besides, we found that the frosting characteristics of different air coolers structure are different. The theoretical basis is provided for determining the best defrosting time, achieving the best defrosting effect, and saving energy.