Abstract
Hoar frost is frozen dew which is deposited on a cold surface exposed to humid air. Frost growth has a profound effect on the performance of an evaporator at freezer temperatures and engineers commonly oversize refrigeration systems to overcome the degradation of heat exchange owing to the presence of the frost layer. In an attempt to understand the behavior of frost, morphological information (at the near-micron range) is needed. We report here a high-resolution, video rate (30 frames per second) visualization of frost forming on a horizontal steel surface exposed to stagnant room air. Sub-micron resolution of the crystalline structure of frost is achieved by employing Scanning Confocal Microscopy. This technique obviates the difficulties with conventional microscopy and allows 3-D and time-resolved quantitative visualization of the frost morphology. Such studies bolster our understanding of several fundamental frost phenomena (during its early growth stage), such as the growth of ice crystals and their interaction with subcooled droplets.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 171-175 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Heat Transfer Division, (Publication) HTD |
| Volume | 284 |
| State | Published - 1994 |
| Event | Proceedings of the 1994 International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition - Chicago, IL, USA Duration: Nov 6 1994 → Nov 11 1994 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Mechanical Engineering
- Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes