Experiment Study on Unsteady Frosting of Cryogenic Vertical Plate Surface under Natural Convection Conditions

Abstract

A frosting test bench was designed, and unsteady frosting on vertical plate surface was dynamically described with liquid nitrogen as working medium under natural convection conditions. The variation of frost thickness was analyzed, and the flow state of moist air and temperature distribution near the vertical plate were described. The experimental results show the unsteady frosting of vertical plate surface under natural convection and cryogenic condition actually includes several steps: formation of frost crystals, growth of frost crystals and growth of frost layer. The initial frosting rate is large, but the rate decreases as time goes on until the frost layer thickness is unchanged. Moist air conducts a top-down flow near the vertical plate, and the rest of moist air flows into the main flow. The temperature of moist air decreased systematically along the tangential direction of vertical plate from top to bottom and along the normal direction of vertical plate from far to vertical plate surface.