The role of surface wettability on natural convection frosting: Frost growth data and a new correlation for hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces

Sommers, Andrew D.; Gebhart, Colton W.; Hermes, Christian J.L.

doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2018.01.074

Cited by 50 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…It is important to stress that the resistance against desublimation frosting is a very valuable property for the materials exploited at low negative temperatures and high humidity. The behavior of smooth and textured substrates was studied in the literature for such conditions. − ,− It was noted that the nanotextured hydrophilic surfaces with radii of curvature within 1 order of magnitude of the critical radius of nucleation favor frost growth at low negative temperatures, while the superhydrophobic surfaces show inhibition of frost formation within the nanofeatures …”

Section: Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…31−33,44−46 It was noted that the nanotextured hydrophilic surfaces with radii of curvature within 1 order of magnitude of the critical radius of nucleation favor frost growth at low negative temperatures, 44 while the superhydrophobic surfaces show inhibition of frost formation within the nanofeatures. 46 The detailed studies of the formation of ice crystals from the vapors with varied supersaturation and temperature were performed on our superhydrophobic surfaces using ESEM. It was found that at T ≈ −19.9 °C and RH about 129% very few microcrystals appeared on the surface by desublimation.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modus Operandi of Protective and Anti-icing Mechanisms Underlying the Design of Longstanding Outdoor Icephobic Coatings

et al. 2019

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Atmospheric icing has become a global concern due to hazardous consequences of ice accretion on air, land, and sea transport and infrastructure. Icephobic surfaces due to their physicochemical properties facilitate a decrease in ice and snow accumulation under outdoor conditions. However, a serious problem of most superhydrophobic surfaces described in the literature is poor operational durability under harsh corrosive and abrasive loads characteristic of atmospheric operation. Here, we elucidate main surface phenomena determining the anti-icing behavior and show experimentally how different mechanisms contribute to long-term durability. For comprehensive exploitation of those mechanisms, we have applied a recently proposed strategy based on fine-tuning of both laser processing and protocols of deposition of the fluorooxysilanes onto the nanotextured surface. Prolonged outdoor tests evidence that a developed strategy for modification of materials on the nanolevel allows overcoming the main drawbacks of icephobic coatings reported so far and results in resistance to destroying atmospheric impacts.

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Section: Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modus Operandi of Protective and Anti-icing Mechanisms Underlying the Design of Longstanding Outdoor Icephobic Coatings

et al. 2019

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“…Previous studies show that defrosting efficiency is usually adversely related to surface hydrophilicity. Thus, most existing hydrophilic surfaces with strong interfacial adhesion are demonstrated to be inefficient in defrosting, and their use leads to a large portion of meltwater retention. − Recent studies prove that surfaces with heterogeneous wettability ( e.g. , combination of hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity) enable better heat/mass transfer in phase transitions involved in condensation, icing, or frosting. − The introduction of hydrophilic areas on this heterogeneous surface can enable both dynamic defrosting driven by an uneven surface-frost force distribution and enhance the heat transfer efficacy, owing to the maximized local contact of frost .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrophilic Slippery Surface Promotes Efficient Defrosting

Yang

Song

et al. 2021

Langmuir

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Frost accretion occurs ubiquitously in various industrial applications and causes tremendous energy and economic loss, as manifested by the Texas power crisis that impacted millions of people over a vast area in 2021. To date, extensive efforts have been made on frost removal by microengineering surfaces with superhydrophobicity or lubricity. On such surfaces, air or oil cushions are introduced to suspend the frost layer and promote the rapid frost sliding off, which, although promising, faces the instability of the cushions under extreme frosting conditions. Most existing hydrophilic surfaces, characterized by large interfacial adhesion, have long been deemed unfavorable for frost shedding. Here, we demonstrated that a hydrophilic and slippery surface can achieve efficient defrosting. On such a surface, the hydrophilicity gave rise to a highly interconnected basal frost layer that boosted the substrate-to-frost heat transfer; then, the resulting melted frost readily slid off the surface due to the superb slipperiness. Notably, on our surface, the retained meltwater coverage after frost sliding off was only 2%. In comparison to two control surfaces, for example, surfaces lacking either hydrophilicity or slipperiness, the defrosting efficiency was 13 and 19 times higher and the energy consumption was 2.3 and 6.2 times lower, respectively. Our study highlights the use of a hydrophilic surface for the pronounced defrosting in a broad range of industrial applications.

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“…In recent decades, it has been reported that the frosting behavior is affected by surface wettability [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. Majority of these studies concluded that the surface wettability mainly contributed to the initial stage of the condensation frosting [30][31][32][33][34], such as altering the profile of initial frost layer, which only consists of ice droplets and surrounding surface. Frost growth on ice droplets over the initial layer is still an area of active research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Numerical Simulations of Frost Growth Using Mixture Model on Surfaces with Different Wettability

Shahane¹,

Shen²,

Wang³

2021

Preprint

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Frost growth on cold surfaces is a transient process with coupled heat and mass transfer. Due to multiple factors such as humidity, temperature, flow velocity and constantly changing thermal properties as frost grows, precise prediction can be challenging. Especially when the geometry of the frosting surfaces gets complicated, it requires a balance of computing accuracy and efficiency. In this work, a numerical model is developed to predict frost growth considering the effect of the above parameters. Mixture model is adapted to improve the computational efficiency and the unstructured grids add the flexibility to extend the model to complex geometries. The predicted frost growth rate matches well with the experimental data reported in the literature under similar conditions. The model predicts reasonable growth trend of frost as the surface temperature, air temperature, humidity and flow velocity vary. The surface wettability effect is well captured at the early stage of frosting and it shows a higher frost growth rate on surfaces with a higher wettability.

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The role of surface wettability on natural convection frosting: Frost growth data and a new correlation for hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces

Cited by 50 publications

References 38 publications

Modus Operandi of Protective and Anti-icing Mechanisms Underlying the Design of Longstanding Outdoor Icephobic Coatings

Modus Operandi of Protective and Anti-icing Mechanisms Underlying the Design of Longstanding Outdoor Icephobic Coatings

Hydrophilic Slippery Surface Promotes Efficient Defrosting

Numerical Simulations of Frost Growth Using Mixture Model on Surfaces with Different Wettability

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